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Webster  Fnm-  Medicine- 

Cumr,  Jicineat 


\ 


<. 


1  ii>ammimi.i:im--w  1] in...,i,i  im' ):iMf..  j.j.uhuiii -].'„  L'.i.«Lj.ti.  ..Liiiri..  .j.i'.'in'ii.  ^k/;"nijj,t.-,^|i|!H'j    ..jujj  .-.',^^i  in-rrm.iii 


AMERICAN  Roadsters 


AND 


TROTTING  HORSES. 


BEING   A   SKETCH   OF   THE 


TROTTING  STALLIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


AND  A 


TREATISE  ON  THE  BREEDING  OF  THE  SAME, 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX 


SHOWING   THE   PEDIGREES   AND   BREEDING,   SO   PAR   AS   KNOWN,   OF   ALL  TROT- 
TERS  THAT   HAVE   A   RECORD  IN   2:35   OR   BETTER,   AND  CONTAINING 
MUCH   PRACTICAL   MATTER  RELATING  TO  THE   BREAKING, 
MANAGEMENT  AND  TREATMENT   OP   TROTTING 
AND  BREEDING   STOCK. 


Illustrated  with  Photo-Views  of  the  Representative  Stallions  of  the  Past  and  Presenl. 


By    H.    T.    HELM, 

COUNSELOR     AT     LAW. 


CHICAGO : 
RAND,    McNALLY    &    CO. 

1878. 


'X2 

\1  ' 


Entered  according  to  Act  ol'  Congress,  iu  the  year  1878.  by 

RAND.  McNALLY  &  CO., 

in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington.  D.  C. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAUK 

Introduction, 5 

Chapter  I.     Breeding   Problem  —  Heredity  —  Selection  —  Cross- 

breeding—  In-breeding  —  Development,        -        -  f) 

Chapter  II.  Trotting  Philosophy  —  Mental  and  Physical  Organ- 
ism,         53 

Chapter        III.    Racing  Blood, 77 

Chapter        IV.    The  Pacing  Element, 93 

Chapter  V.    Sources  of  Trotting  Blood — Messenger — Bellfounder 

— Duroc  —  St.  Lawrence  —  Bashaws  —  Canadians, 

etc.,  etc., 106 

Chapter         VI.    Hambletonian, -        -  15j 

Chapter       VII.    Volunteer, 181 

Chapter     VIII.    Florida,         -        - 200 

Chapter         IX.    Administrator,  -         -         -         -         -         -         -312 

Chapter          X.     Alhambra  and  Messenger  Duroc,          -         -         •  226 

Chapter         XI.    Everett  and  the  Star-Hambletonians,        -         -         -  240 

Chapter       XII.    Alexander's  Abdallah,  and  his  Descendants,         -  262 

Chapter  XIII.  Clay  Hambletonians  —  George  Wilkes  —  Knicker- 
bocker— Peacemaker — Blackstone — Black's  Ham- 
bletonian —  Hambletonian  Prince  —  Idol  and 
Electioneer, 291 

Chapter  XIV.  Hambletonians — In-bred  Abdallahs — Lakeland  Ab- 
dallah— Stephen  A.  Douglas — Lysander,       -        -      311 

CJhapter       XV.     Other    Sons    of    Hambletonian  —  Cuyler — Happy 

Medium  — Duke  of  Brunswick  —  Middletown  — 
Guy  Miller  —  Logan  —  Seneca  Chief  —  Willie 
Schepper, 330 

Chapter      XVI.     Abdallahs,  not  Hambletonians,  of  Male  and  Female 

De.scent. 335 

Chapter    XVII.  Champions, 343 

Chapter  XVIII.  Royal  Georges, 351 

Chapter      XIX.  Bashaws  and  Clays, 367 

(Chapter        XX.  Smuggler, 387 

Chapter      XXI.  Governor  Sprague, 399 

Chapter     XXII.  Mambrino  Chief, 416 

(3) 


IV 


TABLE   OF    CONTENTS. 


Chaj'ter  XXIII.  Descendants  of  Mambrino  Chief — Lady  Thorn  — 
Mambrino  Patchen  —  Ericsson  —  Clark  Chief — 
Woodford  Mambrino  —  North  Star  Mambrino  — 
Idol — Mambrino  Star — and  others  to  the  present 
date, 488 

Chai'TEH  XXIV.     Blackwood  —  Swigert  —  D<m  Carlos,     -        -        -  469 

Chaptek  XXV.  Pilot,  and  his  Descendants  in  the  Male  Line,  includ- 
ing Pilot  Jr.,  Tattler,  Voltaire,  Woodburn  Pilot, 
and  Argonaut, 487 

Chaptek  XXVI.  Justin  Morgan,  and  his  Descendants  in  the  Male 
Line,  including  Vermont  Blackhawk,  General 
Knox,  Ethan  Allen,  Daniel  Lambert,  and  the 
Morrills,  499 

Appendix  : 

Alphabetical  List  of  the  Horses  which  had  trotted  in  2:25  or  better, 
1)}^  the  Record,  prior  to  January,  1878,  giving  the  Pedigrees  of 

the  same  so  far  as  authenticated,      - 529 

Miscellaneous  Table  Trotting  Records, 534 

Practical  Suggestions  with  reference  to  the  Management  of  Breeding 

and  Trotting  Stock, 587 


ILLUSTEATIOIS'S. 


Hambletoniak, Frontispiece. 

Bei,lfoitnder,       -        - Facing  page  128 

GiMCRACK, -  "          "140 

Florida, ..a      SOO 

Administrator, "         "      212 

Edward  Everett, "         "     240 

TlIOKNDAT-E, ".          "268 

Almont, "         "     280 

Lakeland  Abdallah, "         "     812 

CUYLER, "          "      320 

Byron, "         "858 

Governor  Sprague, "         "     406 

Mambrino  Patchen, •        -  "         "      452 

Voltaikk, "          "      494 

Vermont  Blackhawk, "         "      508 


INTRODUCTION. 


Ix  the  spring-  of  1876,  I  began  the  preparation  of  a  series  of 
articles  on  The  Trotting  Stallions,  for  publication  in  the  jVational 
.Lii'e'/Stock  Jotfnu//,  of  Chicago.  The  scope  and  design  of  the  same, 
at  fii'st  limited,  was  enlarged  during  the  progress  of  the  chapters 
which  extended  through  the  year.  The  consideration  which  those 
articles  received  from  the  readers  of  that  and  other  journals  which  in 
part  copied  them,  was  gratifying  to  me,  and  the  numerous  letters  and 
words  of  commendation  received  from  every  part  of  this  country  and 
beyond  the  Atlantic,  have  gone  far  toward  inducing  me  to  put  the 
treatise  thvis  imperfectly  outlined  into  more  complete  and  permanent 
form. 

My  study  of  the  Trotting  Horse  has  extended  through  a  period  of 
several  years,  and  I  have  not  studied  the  subject  as  most  editors  of 
journals  devoted  to  kindred  subjects  have  usually  done,  with  no  actual 
contact  with  the  animals — being  mainly  a  matter  of  theory  on  pajaer. 
On  the  contrary,  while  I  have  also  been  closely  engaged  in  profes- 
sional pursuits,  I  have  been  more  or  less  concerned  with  agricultural 
enterprises  and  aifairs  almost  continuously  for  the  past  twenty  years, 
and  for  the  past  ten  years  have  been  a  horse  breeder,  having  bred  in 
the  States  of  Connecticut,  New  York,  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  Wisconsin, 
in  addition  to  the  keeping  of  a  large  list  at  home  most  of  the  time. 
I  speak  not  of  my  successes — they  have  been  mainly  for  the  benefit 
of  others,  as  I  think  a  man  wlio  riuis  two  professions  at  the  same  time, 
as  I  have  done,  will  not  be  likely  to  advance  his  own  interests  at 
eithei-;  but  for  all  this,  my  opportunities  for  studying  horses  have  been 
something  of  which  I  may  speak. 

While  I  have  known  most  of  the  gentlemen  who  are  breeders  of 
horses  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  have  read  the  greater 
part  of  the  current  horse  literature  for  the  past  ten  years,  I  must  still ' 
be  allowed  to  say  that  I  have  learned  more  from  the  horses  themselves 
than  from  all  other  sources.  I  have  received  my  best  lessons  from  them, 
and  have  learned  the  importance  and  value  of  studying  the  a!iimals,and 
in  them  learning  their  conformations,  compositions  and  blood  traits. 
Had  I  never  made  the  animals  a  study  in    all   their  essential    parts,  I 

(0) 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

think  1  should  never  liave  undertaken  to  write  reafardintr  them.  I 
will  not  speak  lightly  of  the  horse  literature  of  the  day  in  this  con- 
nection ;  it  has  been  of  value  to  me,  but  that  which  has  taug'ht  me 
most,  was  my  mingling  with  and  close  study  of  the  animals. 

I  am  not  a  journalist,  and  have  no  interest  in  one.  I  never  wrote 
an  article  in  my  life  for  pecuniary  recompense.  In  my  sketches  of 
the  various  trotting  stallions  I  have  at  all  times  declined  recompense, 
being  unwilling  to  be  placed  under  any  obligations  to  the  owners — 
other  than  that  which  1  owed  to  the  reading  public — to  be  fair  and 
faithful  in  portraying  excellences  or  in  delineating  faults.  In  some 
instances  the  owners  of  prominent  stallions  have  tendered  me  the 
compliment  of  the  gratuitous  service  of  a  stallion — which,  as  a  breeder 
I  have  felt  at  all  times  at  liberty  to  accept — but  in  no  case  at  the 
expense  of  an  unfair  or  unfaithful  expression  of  o])inion  with  reference 
to  the  particular  animal  or  any  other. 

My  readers  have  the  assurance  that  the  opinions  herein  expressed 
are  my  own — so  far  as  they  purport  to  be— and  no  one  else  is  to  be 
held  accountable  for  them  or  accredited  with  them.  Whether  they 
be  apjM'oved  or  assailed,  as  they  have  in  each  case,  in  the  past,  makes 
no  difference  with  me.  Such  is  the  privilege  of  every  one  in  this 
country. 

That  my  methods  of  studying  and  describing  horses  have  been 
novel  to  some  of  the  writing  gentlemen,  is  not  singular.  They  never 
studied  horses  in  that  way,  and  it  may  also  be  said,  that  from  their 
descriptions  in  many  cases,  their  readers  never  derived  much  informa- 
tion. Superficiality  has  never  been  one  of  my  standards  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  any  subject,  and  if  my  delineations  of  the  composition, 
blood  traits,  conformation  and  characteristics  of  horses  have  differed 
from  the  stereotyped  form  long  in  use,  it  has  been  the  result  of  the 
diff(>rence  in  my  methods  of  study  and  investigation  pursued. 

Some  regard  it  as  a  matter  of  delicacy  to  write  or  speak  of  the 
respective  merits  of  other  people's  stock — and  it  is  said  that  this  stal- 
lion business  is  a  sensitive  spot :  I  have  no  such  feeling.  All  breed- 
ers have  a  common  interest  in  the  general  improvement  of  stock  in  this 
countrj',  and  information  relative  to  the  subject  is  the  property  of  all 
who  can  fairly  obtain  it. 

If  a  stallion  possesses  qualities  unknown  to  the  public,  they  look, 
in  great  part,  to  the  stock  journals  to  learn  his  value;  and  if  a  rank 
has  been  given  to  or  claimed  for  an  animal  which  is  not  justified  by 
his  merits,  any  o»>R   desiring  to  read,  has  a  just  right  to  correct  infor- 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

luation  or  opinions  on  the  subject.  Horses,  in  this  resjiect,  are  no 
better  or  more  sacred  than  inen;  and  reputation  should  be  measured 
by  their  deeds  and  character.  The  reputation  of  an  animal  is  largely 
dependent  upon  its  owner.  Many  horses  of  great  merit  are  not  so 
known  to  the  public,  because  their  o^^^^ers  do  not  employ  all  the  arts 
and  appliances  that  pertain  to  the  business  to  bring  them  famously 
into  notice.  When  I  have  found  such  an  animal,  I  have  not  hesitated 
to  disclose  to  my  readers  some  glimmer  of  his  concealed  light.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  true  that  by  dint  of  artful  advertising, 
and  the  employment  of  cunning  devices — the  ways  of  which  are 
without  number,  and  past  finding  out  to  those  whose  interests  lead 
them  to  be  dvij^ed — many  animals  have  for  a  time  secured  a  fame  and 
prominence  which  gathered  money  into  the  pockets  of  their  shrewd 
and  unscrupulous  managers,  but  whose  real  merits  were  so  meagre  as 
to  give  no  reward  to  the  enterprise,  or  return  for  the  money  of  their 
misled  patrons.  Where  I  have  encountered  any  such  as  these,  my 
pen  has  not  failed  to  prick  the  bubble  that  swelled  with  their  great 
nothingness.  I  deal  with  facts  as  I  obtain  them,  and  in  opinions  as 
I  hold  them. 

It  is  not  believed  that  we  have  yet  bred  a  stallion  so  near  perfection 
that  we  may  not  discuss  his  merits,  and  refer  to  his  favilts  if  he  have 
them.  Some  exception  can  perhaps  be  taken  to  the  best  stallion  we 
have  seen.  Administrator,  Cuyler,  Florida,  Volvuiteer,  Almont, 
Thorndale,  Daniel  Lambert,  Blackwood  and  Governor  Sprague,  and 
the  many  others  described  herein,  are  all  good  horses,  and  great  stal- 
lions, but  to  each  some  just  exception  may  be  properly  taken,  yet 
their  merits  are  so  great,  that  their  respective  owners  need  feel  in  no 
way  sensitive  because  they  can  not  be  pronounced  absolutely  perfect. 
It  will  be  seen  that  while  T  have  found  and  pointed  out  defects  when 
they  existed,  my  work  has  been  mainly  devoted  to  portraying  excel- 
lences and  the  better  traits.  This  results  from  the  fact  that  I  write  of 
the  best  and  most  distinguished  horses  of  oui-  day,  rather  than  those 
which  only  exhibit  infirmities. 

Inasmuch  as  it  has  been  my  aim  to  make  each  subject  as  complete 
in  itself  as  possible  without  reference  to  its  being  a  part  of  an  entire 
treatise,  there  will  be  found  very  frequent  repetitions  of  similar  matter 
both  in  facts  and  in  application  of  principles  advanced,  and  in  each 
of  two  instances  I  have  repeated  a  page  or  more  in  verbis.  Such 
repetitions  may  occupy  much  space,  but  the  recurrence  to  the  matter 
thus  brought  out  in  new  relations  will  not  be  without  its  value.     Some 


Vlll  INTKUDUCTION. 

of  iny  positions  have  been  newly  taken,  and  I  have  deemed  it  wise 
that  the  proper  evidences  accompany  them  in  each  case  respectively. 

In  iny  reference  to  time  records,  I  have  used  the  tables  which  have 
been  prepared  for  the  Stock  Journals,  three  of  them  in  number,  and  as 
they  do  not  altogether  agree,  I  wish  it  understood  that  allowance 
must  be  made  theiein  for  any  imperfections  or  errors  of  recortis. 

It  is  proper  that  I  should  state  that  in  the  pursuit  of  the  studies 
which  have  resulted  in  this  work,  and  in  the  preparation  of  the  treatise 
itself,  I  have  made  free  use  of  all  the  cui-rent  books,  journals  and 
other  literature  of  the  day  bearing-  on  the  subject  under  consideration. 
The  Stud  Books  and  volumes  of  the  Troffim/  Ti<'<jlstei\  of  course, 
have  been  my  constant  books  of  reference  in  the  study  of  pedigrees, 
and  the  various  turf  and  other  journals  have  furnished  me  much 
information.  I  wish  to  say  that  while  I  frequently  refer  to  the  over- 
turning of  ])edigrees  in  the  Trotting  Rt'<iistei\  it  is  with  no  sjiirit  of 
fault  finding.  The  very  careful  and  laborious  editor  makes  his  pedi- 
grees from  the  best  information  at  hand,  and  I  am  happy  to  say,  that  I 
believe  he  is  always  ready  to  overturn  one  when  he  has  found  a  better 
one,  or  one  supported  by  better  evidence.  His  work  possesses  great 
value  from  this  fact. 

I  acknowledge  myself  indebted  to  him  and  his  labors,  and  while  I 
often  refer  to  him  and  do  not  always  assent  to  his  views,  it  is  at  all 
times  with  feelings  of  a  high  ai)]ireciation  for  his  valua])le  labors. 

I  desire  to  express  my  acknowledgment  for  much  valuable  assistance 
and  aid  at  various  stages  of  my  work  rendered  by  J.  H.  Sanders, 
Editor  of  the  JYafio/ial  Tyhw-Stock  Jtmrnal.  The  exti-acts  from  that 
journal  included  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  work  are  mainly  from  his 
pen  and  c(jver  the  points  so  nearly  as  I  would  have  expressed  them, 
that  it  would  have  looked  like  taking  them  without  due  credit  to  the 
author  had  I  done  otherwise  than  as  I  liave.  I  need  hardly  say  they 
embody  much  careful  reflection  well  expressed. 

To  the  many  gentlemen  in  all  parts  of  this  country  who  have  at 
all  times  furnished  me  information  and  afforded  me  many  opportuni- 
ties for  investigation,  I  i-eturn  my  sincere  and  gratefid  acknowledg- 
ments. 

Although  the  work  here  presented  may  contain  some  errors  and 
many  imperfections,  I  am  consoled  with  the  hope  that  it  may  still 
suggest  some  ideas  of  value,  and  lead  others  to  pursue  with  more 
satisfactory  and  valuable  results  the  train  of  stiulies  which  have 
given  me  so  much  giatlHc^ation. 


AMERICA!  ROADSTERS 


AND 


TROTTING    HORSES. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE   BREEDING   PROBLEM. 

LAWS  or    HEREDITY SELECTION CROSS-BREEDING  AND  IN-BREEDING 

INFLUENCE    OP    DEVELOPMENT. 

Stockbreeding  is  simply  reproduction — ^the  advancement  of  do- 
mestic animals  in  the  scale  of  valuable  qualities — bringing  the  same 
forth  in  increased  numbers  and  in  increased  excellence,  and  thus 
making  the  same  more  serviceable  to  the  human  race  in  general,  and 
more  remunerative  to  the  producer  in  particular.  This  can  only  be 
done  by  the  exercise  of  that  wisdom  and  intelligent  selection  of 
methods  which  will  enable  the  breeder  to  avoid  the  errors,  if  any, 
in  previous  efforts,  and  to  combine,  renew  and  increase  the  excellen- 
cies of  that  which  preceded,  in  the  animals  which  ai'e  to  be  produced 
and  employed  in  the  furtherance  of  the  business  of  reproduction. 
Development  and  progressive  advancement  constitute  the  law  of 
intelligent  efforts  in  the  management  of  the  animal  creation,  which  is 
subject  to  man,  the  superior. 

The  first  great  principle  involved  is  that  of  acquirement  and  trans- 
mission. To  apply  this  principle  successfully  in  the  production  and 
improvement  of  the  breed  or  qualities  of  domestic  aiiimals  involves  a 
knowledge  and  close  observation  of  the  laws  of  evolution  and 
HEREDITY,  or  the  rules  which  govern  in  the  acquirement  of  certain 

(9) 


10  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

qTialities  or  characteristics,  either  mental  or  corporeal,  psychological  or 
physical,  in  one  generation,  and  the  transmission  of  the  same  to 
succeeding  generations,  and  the  increase,  diminution  or  other  modifica- 
tion thereof  in  the  offspring  or  descendants. 

The  process  here  referred  to  embraces  the  operation  of  two  forces, 
which  appear  to  be  exactly  opposite  or  antagonistic  to  each  other — the 
one  a  conservative  force,  and  the  other  an  asfffressive  or  disturbins: 
force;  or,  as  it  has  been  well  expressed.  Heredity,  which  makes  of 
every  individual  the  sum  or  essence  or  aggregation  of  that  which 
has  lived  before  him — which  opposes  all  change,  all  progress  and  all 
improvement — the  other.  Evolution,  which  compels  heredity  to  give 
way  to  internal  and  external  causes,  and  modifies  both  the  phj'^sical 
and  mental  organism,  and  places  in  the  breeder's  hands  the  means  of 
effecting  desii-able  and  valuable  changes. 

Of  these,  heredity  is  unquestionably  the  stronger  force,  because,  as  we  shall 
see,  when  uniformity  has  once  been  established,  the  general  principle  that  like 
produces  like  finds  very  rarely  an  exception.  In  fact,  the  influence  of  heredity 
is  always  present,  and  in  the  reproduction  of  animal  life,  never  fails  to  assert 
itself,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  Every  living  thing  brings  forth  young  after 
its  owJQ  kind — in  some  cases  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  i^arent,  and  in  others 
slightly  modified ;  but  always  showing  more  or  less  of  the  parent  type.  Men 
do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistles,  neither  do  Short-horn  cows 
bring  forth  buffalo  calves,  nor  draft  mares  produce  thoroughbred  race-horses. 
Hence,  although  we  may  frequently  meet  with  very  apparent  differences  be- 
tween the  parents  and  the  progeny,  yet  a  moment's  reflection  will  show  us 
that  the  points  of  resemblance  are  always  very  much  greater  than  those  of 
difference. 

We  are  so  accustomed  to  look  at  the  operation  of  this  law  in  its  details,  tliat 
we  overlook  the  aggregate  of  results.  We  mate  a  purely-bred  Essex  sow  and 
boar,  and  look  upon  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  pigs  produced  will  all  be 
black,  and  possess  the  general  characteristics  of  the  Essex  breed;  but  if> 
having  selected  our  breeding  pair  with  a  view  to  the  transmission  of  a 
peculiar  form  of  the  head  or  sliape  of  the  ear,  we  find  in  the  produce  that  few, 
and  possibly  none  possess  the  peculiarity  which  we  have  sought  to  perpetu- 
ate, we  are  apt  to  lose  faith  in  the  power  of  heredity.  And  yet  it  would  be  an 
argument  afifaens<  the  uniform  operation  of  this  law  were  the  product  all  to 
possess  the  peculiarity  which  distinguished  the  sire  and  dam,  for  this  was  an 
exceptional  feature;  and  the  fact  that  the  pigs  possessed,  in  lieu  of  this 
peculiar  mark,  the  character  that  belonged  to  their  ancestors  in  general,  is 
rather  a  testimony  to  the  inherent  power  of  heredity  than  otherwise.  Were 
our  pair  of  pure  Essex  swine  to  produce  Poland-China  or  lierkshire  or  York- 
ehirc  pigs,  there  would  be  room  for  suspicion,  and  for  complaint  that  the  laws 
of  heredity  had  been  violated ;  but  such  a  transgression  of  Nature's  law  so 
rarely  occurs,  that  when  it  does  take  place,  we  may  properly  call  the  result  a 


LAWS   OF   HEREDITY.  11 

*'  sport."  Hence  the  failure  of  an  individual  to  reproduce  features  that  are  pecii- 
liar  to  itself,  or  of  a  pair  of  individuals,  distinguished  for  the  same  peculiarity, 
to  transmit  it  to  the  otfspring,  should  excite  no  surprise  in  the  mind  of  the 
hreeder.  Heredity  transmits  with  certainty  only  -what  has  hecome  a  fixed 
character  in  the  race.  Sports,  accidental  variations,  and  individual  peculiarities, 
only  occur  in  opposition  to  this  law,  and  their  transmission  is  at  best  uncer- 
tain. Heredity  may  be  depended  on  to  govern  the  general  characteristics 
which  determine  the  species,  and  the  less  general  ones,  which  distinguish  the 
breed,  but  when  we  come  to  individual  characteristics,  which  have  never 
acquired  a  general  character  in  the  ancestry,  it  frequently  fails.  In  short,  the 
transmission  of  the  greater  share  of  all  the  characteristics  is  a  thing  of  uni- 
versal occurrence,  but  their  transmission  in  toto  is  an  ideal  conception  that  is 
.  never  realized ;  and  only  in  proportion  as  the  ancestry  has  assumed  a  fixed 
and  unvarying  type,  do  we  find  this  ideal  of  the  effect  of  heredity  approxi- 
mated. 

That  peculiarity  called  atavism,  or  reversion,  so  often  noticed  in  our 
domesticated  animals,  and  which  has  so  frequently  set  at  naught  the  calcu- 
lations of  the  breeder,  has  often  been  quoted  as  an  illustration  of  the  failure  of 
the  law  of  heredity;  but  it  is,  in  fact,  only  a  tribute  to  its  power.  By  selec- 
tion, change  of  climate  or  of  nutrition,  or  by  crossing,  or  by  all  of  these  means 
combined,  we  may  succeed  in  obliterating  certain  well-defined  characteristics, 
and  in  modifying  a  given  type,  until  the  new  form  or  character  that  we  have 
created  will,  in  its  turn,  be  transmitted  with  reasonable  certainty ;  but  suddenly 
the  germ  that  has  lain  dormant  for  so  many  generations  asserts  itself,  and, 
greatly  to  our  surprise,  the  characteristics  of  the  original  stock  will  reappear. 
These  cases  of  reversion  most  frequently  occur  when  cross-breeding  is  resorted 
to.  The  counter  currents  of  hereditary  influence,  which  are  by  this  means 
brought  into  contact,  having  a  common  origin,  awaken  to  life  the  germ  which 
has  for  generations  been  a  silent  factor  in  each  of  the  newly-created  breeds, 
and  enables  it  to  again  assume  control  of  the  organism. 

In  addition  to  the  general  and  well-defined  operation  of  the  laws  of  heredity 
to  which  we  have  alluded,  its  operations  in  the  transmission  of  individual 
characteristics,  although  not  clearly  defined,  and  never  to  be  depended  upon, 
are  often  wonderful.  The  son  is  frequently,  in  some  respects,  the  exact  dupli- 
cate of  the  father,  and  the  daughter  of  the  mother.  Sometimes  a  peculiarity 
which  belonged  to  the  grandsire  lies  dormant  in  the  son,  but  crops  out  as 
strong  as  ever  in  the  second  or  third  generation.  Again :  we  find  peculiarities 
transmitted  from  father  to  daughter,  and  from  mother  to  son,  and  even 
especial  sexual  characteristics  transmitted  by  the  father  through  a  daughter 
to  a  grandson,  or  by  the  mother  through  a  son  to  a  granddaughter ;  but  it  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  in  no  case  are  all  the  peculiarities  of  any  one  individ- 
ual transmitted.  Indeed,  it  would  be  strange  were  it  otherwise,  because  each 
individual  is  the  joint  product  of  two  other  individuals,  each  endowed 
with  peculiarities  of  its  own;  and  that  each  should  transmit  itself  as  an 
entirety  is'  absolutely  impossible.  Neither  do  we  find  in  the  individual  so 
produced  a  blending  of  these  peculiarities  in  exact  proportion — as  one  might 
theoretically  argue  would  be  the  result  were  the  parents  of  equally  well  estab- 


12  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

lisliecl  types — but  rather  that  in  some  respects  the  offspring  resembles  the 
fatlier,  in  otliers  the;  mother;  in  some  forminc^  a  partial  or  exact  mean  between 
the  two;  and  in  still  others  we  find  the  produce  utterly  unlike  either,  giving  it 
an  individuality  or  character  of  its  own.  We  might  illustrate  this  by 
instances  from  liic  experience  of  every  breeder,  but  it  is  not  necessary.  The 
effect  has  been  ())).served  by  all  who  have  given  any  attention  whatever  to  the 
subject  of  breeding. 

The  foregoing  extract  is  taken  from  a  very  able  and  philosophical 
article  in  the  National  Live  Stock  Journal^  and  as  this  matter  of  the 
certain  transmission  of  acquired  qualities,  and  the  fact  that  such  qual- 
ities can  also  be  and  are  acquired  and  changed  as  the  result  oi 
judicious  selections  and  training  in  the  hands  of  the  intelligent  breeder 
and  handler  lies  at  the  threshold  of  the  subject  of  breeding  trotting 
horses,  I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  present  my  readers  here  with 
various  extracts  both  from  the  same  series  and  other  articles  in  that  and 
other  journals.  It  is  a  subject  that  is  worthy  of  our  most  careful  con- 
sideration. 

Where  animals  in  a  state  of  nature  are  not  disturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
conditions  under  which  they  have  existed  for  ages,  as  the  American  bison,  or 
buft'alo,  the  elk,  the  deer,  the  wolf,  etc.,  the  uniformity  which  prevails  among 
all  the  individuals  of  the  race  is  remarkable;  and  all  the  peculiarities  of 
structure,  color  and  character  are  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation 
with  almost  unerring  certainty ;  and  here  the  maxim  of  the  breeder,  that  "  like 
produces  like,"  scarcely  ever  meets  with  an  exception.  Such  animals  are, 
in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word,  tlioroughbred,  or  purely  bred.  There  has 
been  no  commingling  of  blood,  or  crossing  of  various  strains,  to  give  the  race 
a  composite  character,  and  hence,  when  we  have  seen  the  sire  and  dam,  we 
can  toll  with  certainty  what  the  progeny  will  be.  Were  any  of  our  domesti- 
cated animals  t7ioroughbreds,  in  the  sense  that  the  bison,  the  elk  or  the  deer 
are  thoroughbreds,  the  breeding  problem  would  be  a  simple  one,  and  like 
would  produce  like  as  long  as  the  conditions  of  life  remained  the  same.  The 
same  principle  holds  true  in  the  reproduction  of  vegetable  life.  An  absolutely 
pure  seed  reproduces  its  kind,  but  when  cross  fertilization  has  once  taken 
place,  the  result  is  uncertain.  If  the  flower  of  the  Baldwin  apple  tree  be 
fertilized  by  the  pollen  of  a  Winesap,  the  seed  from  this  union  will  produce 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It  will  be  an  apple,  because  both  of  its  parents 
were  apples;  but  as  thej'  were  of  diflerent  varieties,  or  forms,  or  character,  so 
the  produce  will  have  a  character  of  its  own,  differing  from;  both  of  its  ances- 
tors. And  even  if  the  stigma  of  the  Baldwin  be  fertilized  by  pollen  of  its  own 
kind,  the  result  is  uncertain,  because  the  parent  is  itself  the  result  of  cross-fertili- 
zation. The  api)lication  of  this  principle  to  the  crossing  of  diflerent  races  of 
domestic  animals  is  evident,  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  it  here- 
after. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  uniformity  of  which  we  have  spoken,  in  the 
produce  of  absolutely  pure  or  unmixed  races,  there  arises  occasionally  what 


LAWS   OF  HEREDITY.  13 

is  termed  an  accidental  variation  from  the  established  type — a,  sport,  as  it  is 
frequently  called.  The  color  of  the  American  deer  is  of  a  fixed  type,  and  a 
departure  from  this  color  is  justly  regarded  as  a  great  curiosity;  yet,  a  white 
deer  is  occasionally  found ;  and  so  of  other  animals  in  which  the  color  is  an 
equally  well-established  characteristic.  Man  has  five  fingers  on  each  hand 
and  five  toes  on  each  foot,  and  in  this  particular  the  race  is  uniform ;  and  yet 
a  "  sport "  is  occasionally  found,  where  the  number  of  fingers  or  toes  is 
increased  to  six.  When  these  accidental  variations  once  occur,  they  are  liable, 
under  favorable  conditions,  to  be  transmitted  by  inheritance ;  but  under  the 
ordinary  operations  of  Nature's  laws,  when  the  conditions  of  life  remain  un- 
changed, these  anomalies  usually  disappear  within  one  or  two  generations, 
and  the  normal  and  characteristic  type  of  the  race  is  resumed.  A  well-authen- 
ticated instance  of  the  transmission  of  accidental  variations  is  found  in  the 
oft-quoted  case  of  Edward  Lambert,  whose  whole  body,  with  the  exception  of 
the  face,  the  soles  of  the  feet,  and  the  palms  of  the  hands,  was  covered  with  a 
sort  of  horny  excrescence,  which  was  periodically  moulted.  His  six  sons  all 
inherited  the  same  peculiarity,  and  the  only  one  of  the  six  that  survived  trans- 
mitted it,  in  turn,  to  all  his  sons.  This  abnormal  character  was  transmitted 
through  the  male  line  for  six  generations,  and  then  disappeared.  We  have 
also  several  well-authenticated  cases  of  the  transmission,  for  a  few  generations, 
of  an  abnormal  number  of  fingers  or  toes ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  Colburn  family 
where  each  of  the  members  had  a  supernumerary  toe  and  finger,  Avhich 
anomaly  was  transmitted,  although  irregularly,  for  four  generations  before  it 
entirely  disappeared.  The  writer  is  personally  cognizant  of  a  case  in  which 
the  second  and  third  toe  of  each  foot  were  united,  and  which  anomaly  has 
been  transmitted  for  three  generations  to  one  only,  out  of  an  average  of  eight 
descendants  in  each  family.  But,  as  before  remarked,  when  the  conditions  of 
life  remain  unchanged,  these  anomalies  almost  invariably  disappear,  and  the 
descendants  resume  the  typical  character  of  the  race. 

From  the  fact  that  these  accidental  variations  have  shown  themselves  to  be, 
in  a  limited  degree,  transmissible  by  heredity,  we  may  infer  that  if  selections 
were  made  with  a  view  to  their  perpetuation,  they  might  ultimately  become 
fixed  characters — but  of  this  more  hereafter.  Indeed,  there  is  a  considerable 
weight  of  evidence  tending  to  show  that  even  variations  produced  by  mutila- 
tion, or  by  other  artificial  means,  are  sometimes  transmitted,  especially  when 
the  mutilation  has  been  intimately  connected  with  the  nervous  system.  Dr. 
Prosper  Lucas  gives  numerous  well-authenticated  instances  of  this  character, 
and  is  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  variations  or  mutilations  that  are  the 
result  of  disease,  are  transmissible.  That  eminent  scientist.  Dr.  Brown- 
Sequard,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  some  experiments  with  guinea  pigs. 
By  an  operation  upon  a  certain  nerve,  he  produced  epileptic  convulsions,  and 
the  produce  of  the  animals  upon  w' hich  this  operation  was  performed  mani- 
fested the  same  symptoms.  But  notwithstanding  the  numerous  instances 
given  by  the  eminent  authorities  above  quoted,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the 
cases  of  the  transmission  of  these  artificially  produced  variations  are  so  rare 
as  to  be  practically  of  no  account  in  the  calculation  of  the  breeder. 

The  law  which  governs  the  transmission  of  these   accidental    variations, 


14  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

whether  they  be  the  result  of  a  "  sport "  or  of  external  inflnences,  appears  to 
be,  that  wlion  such  variations  from  the.  connnon  tyi)e  are  in  antujijonisni  to  tlie 
conditions  of  liie  to  wliich  the  individual  is  suhjeclcd,  the  variations  are  not 
perpetuated;  while,  on  the  oilier  !i;nid,  if  they  an;  in  conformity  to  the  exist- 
ing wants  or  conditions,  add  natural  selection,  and  a  survival  of  the  fittest  will 
tend  to  perpetuate  them. 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  evident  that  the  laws  of  heredity  tend  to  reproduce 
in  the  progeny  the  character  of  the  ancestors ;  and  that  when  the  ancestry  is 
of  a  fixed  and  uniform  type,  the  maxim  that  "  like  produces  like  "  admits  of 
few  exceptions.  Yet  there  are  exceptions  even  here,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  case  of  sports ;  and  the  modifications  produced  by  changed  conditions  of 
life,  adaptation  to  new  uses,  and  new  modes  of  subsistence,  tend  to  vary  what, 
under  the  operation  of  the  unrestricted  laws  of  heredity,  would  fix  a  given 
type,  and  leave  the  breeder's  art  powerless  to  effect  change  or  improvement. 

As  to  the  results  to  be  attained  from  the  employment  for  breeding' 
purposes,  of  animals  that  from  accident  or  unaccountable  cause  exhibit 
marked  peculiarities,  either  physical  or  mental,  or  when  they  possess 
great  excellencies  or  great  and  serious  defects  or  vices,  the  following 
principles  and  facts  taken  from  an  able  article  in  the  same  journal, 
and  written  by  a  medical  gentleman,  are  expressed  in  terms  both 
instructive  and  entertaining: 

"Where  two  races  of  men,  or  species  of  animals,  are  crossed,  the  superior 
race  or  species  generally  predominates.  The  same  rule  holds  with  regard  to 
crosses  of  the  same  race  or  species ;  the  superior  blood  taking  precedence  over 
the  inferior,  all  other  things  being  equal. 

In  the  laws  of  transmission  by  descent  are  doubtless  to  be  found  the  secret 
of  the  rise  and  decadence  of  nations,  and  the  improvement  and  retrogression 
of  stock.  Race  after  race  of  men  have  risen  to  a  high  plane  of  civilization, 
and  then  again  deteriorated  to  almost  savage  barbarism,  being  overcome  or 
supi^lanted  by  others  often  of  a  higher  degree  of  intelligence  than  the 
supplanted  race  had  ever  attained.  An  instance  of  this  is  seen  in  the  native 
American  or  red  man  being  overcome  by  the  more  highly  endowed  European. 
The  Malayan  and  Papuan  races  are  fast  retrograding ;  being  examples  of  tlie 
dying-out  process.  Modern  Arabians,  Tur]vs,  Eg^'ptians,  Italians,  and  even 
Greeks,  are  known  to  be  far  inferior,  in  every  essential  particular,  to  their 
progenitors;  the  Anglo-Saxon,  Slavonic  and  Teutonic  races  are  rapidly 
ab.sorbing  them,  and  taking  their  place,  and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when 
those  ancient  nations  will  be  known  only  in  history.  Without  further 
referring  to  these  laws,  as  relating  to  the  physiological  changes  at  present 
being  developed  among  the  races  of  the  earth,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  from 
the  present  prospect,  the  nations  possessing  the  greatest  admixture  of  Slavonic, 
Teutonic,  Celtic,  Pelasgic  and  Iberian  elements  will  continue  to  be  in  the 
ascendant;  while,  doubtless,  as  these  elements  separate  or  approach  their 
original  type  of  the  race,  they  will  decline  in  many  important  characteristics. 
This  theory,  exemplified  by  the  thorough  admixture  of  blood  (within  our 


LAWS   OF   HEREDITY.  15 

race),  may,  and  perhaps  does,  furnish  a  solution  of  the  secret  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  Aryan  race.  In  other  words,  a  correct  theory  may  be  formulated  thus : 
That  the  most  prosperous  nation  is  that  in  which  there  is  the  least  percentage 
of  marriages  between  near  relatives,  and  also  the  least  between  persons  of 
difterent  races.  Numerous  instances,  tending  to  establish  the  correctness  of 
this  theory,  both  as  to  man  and  animals,  might  be  adduced ;  and  much  evi- 
dence, botli  of  a  positive  and  negative  character,  could  be  presented  to  sup- 
port this  view.  Of  the  latter  kind,  may  be  offered  the  acknowledged  want  of 
physical  stamina,  as  well  as  frequent  infertility,  of  the  Mulatto  and  Mestizo — 
the  women  of  the  Papuan  race,  after  crossing  with  the  European,  are  nearly  all 
barren,  or,  if  they  have  offspring,  they  are  much  enfeebled,  botli  physically 
and  mentally.  It  is  known  that  the  progeny  of  a  cross  between  the  Christian 
and  Jew,  or  other  Semitic  race,  is  almost  universally  more  or  less  enfeebled. 
To  such  an  extent  had  this  obtained  in  the  French  province  of  Algeria,  that  a 
committee  of  the  Climatological  Society  of  France,  sent  to  Algeria  to  investi- 
gate the  subject,  otficially  reported  to  their  Government  that,  in  the  acclimati- 
zation of  Europeans  in  that  country,  alliances  should  not  be  allowed,  under 
any  circumstances,  with  the  Arab  race,  as  it  was  in  process  of  deterioration, 
and  final  extinction ;  while  intermarriage  with  the  Latin  races,  planted  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  (Spaniards,  Italians  and  Maltese),  should 
be  encouraged,  as  they  showed  a  much  higher  degree  of  fertility  and  vitality. 
The  Jew  holds  it  to  be  a  religious  duty  not  to  intermarry  with  the  Aryan 
race ;  and  it  is  perhaps  owing  to  tlieir  knowledge  of  these  physiological  facts 
that  they  discourage  such  alliances. 

In  animals,  the  mule,  or  any  mongrel  breed,  is  more  or  less  defective  in 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  original  species.    As  a  rule  they  are  sterile. 

Attempts  have  recently  been  made  to  bring  the  theory  or  laws  of  transmis- 
sion by  descent  into  disrepute,  by  assuming  that,  in  accordance  with  these 
laMS,  a  one-legged  man  should  procreate  a  one-legged  offspring.  But  the 
learned  and  indefatigable  physiologist,  Dr.  BroAvn-Sequard,  has  recently  made 
some  singular  discoveries  upon  tliis  sul)ject,  which  go  far  toward  showing  that 
even  tliis  apparent  impossibility  may  be  overcome.  Brown-Sequard  does  not 
as  yet  chiim  that  the  one-legged  breed  is  to  be  looked  for  at  a  very  early  day; 
but  he  has  demonstrated,  by  a  series  of  conclusive  experiments  on  Guinea  pigs 
(liis  favorite  animals  for  experiment),  that  injuries  to  parents  do  result  in  the 
production  of  offspring  with  analogous  lesions.  I  will  give,  briefly,  some  of 
his  conclusions  concerning  the  hereditary  transmission  to  animals  of  morbid 
states,  caused,  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  parents,  by  injury  to  the  nervous 
sj-stem. 

1*^.  A  change  in  the  shape  of  the  ear  in  animals  born  of  parents  in  which 
such  a  change  was  the  result  of  a  division  of  the  cervical  sympathetic  nerve. 

2d.  A  partial  closure  of  the  eyelids  in  animals  born  of  jiarents  in  which 
that  state  of  the  eyelids  had  been  caused,  either  by  section  of  the  cervical 
sympathetic,  or  removal  of  superior  cervical  ganglion. 

3d.    UxojMhahnia  in  animals  born  of  parents  in  which  an  injury  to  the 
rcxf/forin  body  had  produced  that  protrusion  of  the  ey(;ba]l. 
■    4ith.    Ha^matoma  and  dry  gangrene  of  the  ears  in  animals  born  of  jjarenis  in 


16  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

which  the  alterations  resulted  from  an  injury  to  the  restiform  body,  near  the 
nib  of  the  calamus. 

5t.h.  Absence  of  two  toes  out  of  the  three  of  the  hind  leg,  and  sometimes 
all  three,  in  animals  whose  parents  had  eaten  ttieir  hind-leg  toes,  which  had 
become  antesthetic  from  a  section  of  the  sciatic  nerve,  or  of  that  nerve  and  the 
crural. 

6th.  Appearance  of  various  morbid  states  of  the  skin,  hair  of  the  neck  and 
fiicc,  in  animals  born  of  parents  having  similar  alterations  in  the  same  parts, 
produced  by  injury  to  the  sciatic  nerve. 

In  regard  to  these  last  cases,  Brown-Sequard  concludes  that  the  sciatic  nerve 
in  the  congenitally  toeless  animal  has  inherited  or  acquired  the  power  of 
transmission  by  passing  through  all  the  difterent  morbid  states  which  had 
existed  in  one  or  other  of  the  parents,  and  that  this  power  in  the  parents  was 
received  through  the  central  end  of  the  nerve,  from  the  time  of  division  till 
after  its  reunion  with  the  peripheric  end.  Hence,  if  this  view  is  correct,  it  is 
not  simply  the  power  of  performing  a  single  action  Avhich  is  inherited,  but 
that  of  performing  a  series  of  actions  at  a  proper  time,  and  in  their  proper 
order.  In  my  opinion,  what  is  most  likely  transmitted,  in  nearly  if  not  all 
cases  of  hereditary  transmission,  is  the  morbid  or  peculiar  state  of  the  nervous 
system.  Therefore,  when  we  consider  how  closely  the  moral  is  related  to  tlic 
nervous  system,  we  are  not  so  much  surprised  at  the  growing  tendency  to 
recurrence  of  nervous  or  mental  diseases — those  states  which  so  imperiously 
demand  narcotics  and  stimulants — as  also  at  the  remarkable  liercditary  ten- 
dency to  crime  and  pauperism.  In  a  paper  recently  read  before  the  New  York 
Charities  Aid  Association,  by  Dr.  Harris,  a  most  remarkable  instance  of 
the  hereditary  transmission  of  crime,  etc.,  was  presented  in  the  case  of  the 
wonum  Margaret.  Attention  was  first  called  to  it  from  the  fact  that  a  certain 
county  in  Northern  New  York  contained  so  large  a  percentage  of  criminals 
and  paupers — it  having  been  officially  reported  that  one-tenth  of  the  entire 
population  were  of  these  two  classes.  Upon  investigation,  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  cause  of  this  state  of  affairs,  it  was  found  that,  niore  than 
seventy  years  ago,  a  girl,  having  no  other  name  than  that  of  Margaret,  first 
made  her  appearance  in  that  region,  nothing  being  known  of  her  ancestors. 
She  was  a  vagrant  at  an  early  age.  There  being  no  poor-house  in  the  county 
at  which  she  could  be  kept,  she  roamed  through  the  country,  begging  from 
neighbors  and  others,  never  having  a  home,  nor  receiving  an  education  nor 
any  proper  instruction.  At  an  early  age  she  began  to  bear  children — illegiti- 
mate, of  course — who  became  paupers,  like  herself.  Since  that  time,  about  nine 
hundred  descendants  have  been  traced  to  this  outcast  woman.  Of  this  prog- 
eny more  than  two  hundred  stand  recorded  as  ci-iminals,  and  a  large  number 
of  the  remainder  are  known  to  be  idiots,  lunatics  and  drunkards.  Virtue  was 
unknown  to  any  of  them  of  either  sex.  In  one  generation  tlicre  were  twenty 
children,  three  of  whom  died  young;  of  tlie  remaining  seventeen,  nine  were 
criminals,  liaving  been  sent  to  Slate  prisons  for  aggregate  terms  of  fifty  years, 
and  the  rest  were  almost  constant  inmates  of  jails,  prisons  and  alm.s-houses. 

Animals  Avhich  have  accjuired  certain  peculiar  qualities,  or  perfection  of 
senses,  through  habit  or  training,  or  both,  possess  the  poAver  of  transmitting 


LAWS  OF  HEREDITY.  17 

those  pecnliarities  to  tlieir  offspring.  For  example,  the  wolf,  possessing  a 
most  remarkably  acute  sense  of  smell,  when  crossed  by  the  union  of  a  clog 
■with  a  female  wolf,  results  in  a  progeny  with  a  marked  excellence  of  scent. 
Of  course  traces  of  other  wolf  characteristics,  etc.,  are,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  found  in  the  progeny,  through  successive  generations,  such  as  resem- 
hlance  in  form,  countenance  or  expression,  disposition,  etc.  Domestic  life,  to 
some  extent,  softens  their  savage  nature;  but  there  is  one  peculiarity  that 
always  attaches  to  them,  and  is  retained  for  many  successive  generations — 
which  is  their  suspicion.  When  a  dog  of  this  cross  is  called  by  his  master, 
no  matter  how  familiar  he  may  be  M^ith  him,  he  will  never  approach  him  in  a 
straight  line,  as  dogs  usually  do,  but  will  take  a  more  or  less  zigzag  course.  It 
is  said  such  dogs  never  wholly  lay  aside  this  peculiarity. 

It  may  be  stated,  as  an  incontrovertible  proposition,  that  nearly,  if  not  all, 
the  inclinations  resulting  from  education,  climate,  mode  of  life,  or  food,  after 
having  been  converted  into  fixed  habits,  and  cultivated  for  two  or  three  suc- 
cessive generations,  become  hereditary,  and  are  capable  of  being  transmitted.^ 
The  descendants  will  often  so  display  them  from  birth  that  it  is  impossible  to 
distinguish  the  acquired  qualities  from  those  which  are  more  inherent  in  their 
constitution.  Hence,  it  is  obvious  that  in  those  animals  which  have  been  able 
(by  reason  of  local  advantages,  etc.,  etc.)  to  freely  cultivate  and  develop  their 
faculties  aud  powers,  individuals  may  transmit  to  their  offspring  dispositions 
and  qualities,  both  of  body  and  mind,  superior  to  those  with  which  they  them- 
selves were  naturally  endowed. 

Naturally,  shepherd  dogs  seldom  have  a  fine  nose.  For  generations  they 
were  scarcely  ever  called  to  exercise  the  sense  of  scent ;  hence,  it  became 
obtuse.  Although  they  are  quick  of  perception,  hearing  and  sight,  and  natu- 
rally  possessed  of  an  extraordinary  amount  of  intelligence,  augmented  by 
constant  association  with  their  master,  aud  notwithstanding  their  docility, 
which  is  inborn,  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  find  a  good  hunting  dog  among 
them,  for  the  sole  reason  that  they  are  usually  deficient  in  that  most  essential 
quality  for  that  use — that  of  scent.  Yet  I  have  known  of  instances  where  the 
shepherd  dog  has  shown  evidence  of  the  possession  of  an  acute  sense  of  scent, 
and,  in  hunting  quail  or  chicken,  nearlj--,  if  not  quite,  equal  to  most  pointers 
and  setters;  but  this  was  the  result  of  cultivation  and  training  through  suc- 
cessive generations.  A  peculiarity  in  this  regard — which  should  be  observed 
"by  breeders  of  improved  stock — is,  that  among  qualities  or  habits,  those  which 
are  most  certainly  acquired,  and  afterward  transmitted  hereditarih%  may,  and 
often  do,  assume  an  equal  character  of  spontaneity  with  the  disposition  and 
qualities  most  inherent  in  the  animal.  True,  those  races  of  dogs  which  have 
heen  trained  for  several  successive  generations  to  seize  and  fetch  game,  mani- 
fest, from  their  birth  almost,  these  two  dispositions.  Yet,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  is  not  strictly  natural  to  them ;  on  the  contrary,  the  more  natural  incli- 
nation of  this  carnivorous  animal  would  be  to  seize  and  devour  the  game.  In 
the  well-trained  dog,  however,  these  dispositions  to  kill  and  eat  become 
weaker,  and  will  finally  disappear  entirely  when  discouraged  and  neglected 
for  several  generations.  But  equally  so  do  those  which  proceed  even  more 
dii-ectly  from  nature.    Take,  for  instance,  the  wild  rabbit ;  his  natural  disposi- 


18  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

tion  is  to  burrow  in  the  ground ;  by  taming  and  cultivation  in  a  warren  for 
several  generations,  lie  ceases  to  burrow — a  part  of  his  natural  instinct  being 
effaced,  and  which  will  only  reappear  when  a  continued  recurrence  of  wanta 
makes  him  appreciate  its  necessity  again. 

The  laws  of  hereditary  transmission  also  govern  the  more  subordinate,  aa 
well  as  the  dominant,  characteristics ;  hence,  fecundity,  longevity,  peculiar 
idiosyncrasies,  as  Avell  as  purely  personal  traits,  become  established  and  trans- 
missible, and  it  appears,  to  some  extent  at  least,  independent  of  mode  of 
living,  race,  climate,  food  or  profession.  Many  instances  might  be  given  in 
proof  of  these  statements,  were  it  deemed  necessary.  Longevity,  which  i» 
capable  of  being  extended  or  diminished,  owing  to  selection  or  crosses,  does 
not  depend  upon  race,  mode  of  life,  or  climate,  so  much  as  upon  heredity. 
The  general  average  of  life  may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  affected  by  local  causes, 
such  as  hygiene,  climate  and  civilization ;  but  individual  longevity  is  almost 
entirely  independent  of  these  influences.  Longevity  may  be  said  to  result 
from  an  internal  principle  of  vitality,  which  certain  persons  or  animals 
receive  at  birth  or  time  of  conception.  Again,  some  families  become  prema- 
turely aged,  their  hair  turning  gray,  and  their  physical  and  mental  powers 
giving  way  at  a  comparatively  early  age.  Some  families  appear  to  be  endowed 
with  a  peculiar  immunity  from  certain  forms  of  disease,  and  especially  so  of 
contagious  diseases.  Heredity  exerts  a  controlling  influence  over  the  repro- 
ductive  functions.  Some  families  of  men  and  animals  are  remarkable  for 
their  fecundity.  Other  families,  again,  have  a  peculiar  voice ;  the  females 
speaking  like  males,  or  rough  and  coarse.  Stammering,  lisping,  or  speaking 
with  a  nasal  twang,  is  characteristic  of  some  families.  There  are  families  of 
musicians,  who  almost  invariably  possess  a  fine  ear  for  music.  Others,  again, 
are  notably  defective  in  this  particular,  having  no  ear  at  all  for  music. 
Loquacity  is  characteristic  of  some  families.  Dr.  Lucas  observes  that  "  most 
children  of  talkative  parents  are  chatterboxes  from  infancy."  In  some  fami- 
lies of  horses  nearly  all  are  found  to  be  natural  pacers,  etc.,  etc. 

The  hereditary  transmission  of  disease,  or,  at  least,  a  predisposition  thereto, 
as  well  as  anomalies  of  organization,  can  not  be  denied.  The  case  of  Edward 
Lambert  is  a  well  authenticated  instance.  His  whole  body,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  his  hands,  face  and  soles  of  the  feet,  was  covered  with  horny  excres- 
cences. He  was  the  father  of  six  children,  all  of  whom,  from  an  early  age, 
presented  the  same  peculiarity  of  the  skin.  The  only  one  of  the  children  who 
survived  to  manhood  transmitted  it  to  all  his  sons ;  thus  it  passed  through 
several  generations.  What  appears  strange  in  this  case  is,  that  the  sons  only 
were  aflected,  and  alone  capable  of  transmitting  it. 

We  have  in  the  horse  history  of  this  country  an  instance  very  simi- 
lar to  the  foregoing.  Winthrop  Messenger,  a  son  of  Imported  Mes- 
senger, and  the  one  of  that  family  from  which  the  many  distinguished 
Messengers  of  the  State  of  Maine  descended,  was  attacked  with  grease 
or  scratches,  which,  from  neglect  and  want  of  care,  became  chronic, 
and  continued  to  his  death  in  a  greatly  aggravated  form.     It  has 


LATVS   OF  HEREDITY.  19 

marked  Ms  descendants  for  several  generations,  and  amounts  to  almost 
a  family  characteristic. 

Racliitis,  tuberculosis,  albinism,  ectrodactyliErm  and  polydactylism,  labia 
leporena,  as  well  as  many  other  deviations  from  the  natural  type,  may  become 
developed,  established,  and  then  hereditarily  transmitted.  These  facts  are  not 
only  of  interest  as  applied  to  the  human  family,  but  they  are  of  great  import- 
ance to  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  breeding  and  improvement  of  all  kinds 
of  animals,  as  from  these  we  determine  that  all  deviations  from  the  original 
type,  whether  the  result  of  excess  or  arrest  of  organic  development,  are  hered- 
itary and  transmissible,  and  also  that  the  individual  type  is  but  little,  if  any, 
less  subject  to  the  laws  of  heredity  than  the  specific  or  original  type.  It  must 
be  remembered,  in  this  connection,  that  neither  the  specific  nor  individual 
deviations  are  always  transmitted,  as  it  is  well  known  that  sometimes  they  do 
not  appear  to  be.  Hence,  it  is  questionable  whether  we  must  conclude  that 
deviations  from  the  specific  type  are  fixed  permanently,  or  the  heredity 
restricted.  Observation  leads  us  to  believe  that  there  exists  a  tendency  to 
return  to  the  original  or  specific  type.  This  is  shown  by  the  case  of  Colburn, 
reported  by  Burdach.  Each  of  this  family  had  a  supernumerary  toe  and 
finger,  the  anomaly  continuing  through  four  generations.  In  this  case  the 
normal  steadily  gained  upon  the  abnormal ;  as,  in  the  first  generation,  there 
was  but  one  with  the  proper  number  of  toes  and  fingers  to  35  with  six ;  in  the 
second  generation,  there  was  one  to  14,  and  in  the  third,  one  to  3 — this  shows 
a  rapid  return  toward  the  normal  type. 

Having  briefly  referred  to  the  transmission  of  anomalies  of  structure,  lon- 
gevit}",  fecundity  and  idiosyncrasies,  etc.,  as  more  particularly  relating  to,  or 
involved  in,  the  very  nature  of  the  animal  or  being  as  constituted  through  the 
process  of  generation,  I  now  propose  to  devote  a  few  words  to  what  I  conceive 
to  be  a  more  difiicult,  as  well  as  more  important,  phase  of  the  subject  under 
consideration — that  of  the  relation  of  heredity  to  more  strictly  acquired  modi- 
fications; such,  for  example,  as  vital  or  nervous  force,  mental  habits  and 
muscular  strength  and  power,  as  developed  in  the  nervous  and  muscular 
system,  through  both  education  and  exercise.  I  do  not  think  there  can  be  a 
doubt  as  to  the  transmission  of  muscular  strength,  as  well  as  the  difi:erent 
forms  of  motor  energy.  As  a  type,  the  Celt  excels  as  a  pugilist — there  being 
families  of  prize-fighters.  Formerly,  there  have  been  families  of  athletes, 
etc.,  etc. 

Galton,  who  has  given  this  subject  considerable  attention,  declares,  "that 
the  best  oarsmen,  wrestlers,  athletes,  dancers,  etc.,  generally  belong  to  a  small 
number  of  families,  among  whom  strength  and  skill  are  hereditary'." 

Horse  breeders  are  familiar  with  the  fact,  that  certain  types  of  the  horse 
possess  a  superiority  of  motor  energy  and  muscular  strength  over  others,  and 
try  to  make  their  selection  in  breeding  accordingly.  It  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  their  study  of  this  subject  has,  heretofore,  been  top  much  of  an 
empirical  order — their  knowledge  being  derived  almost  wholly  from  observa- 
tion, and  not  from  a  proper  study  of  the  fixed  laws  regulating  hereditaiy 
trausmissioo. 


20  TPIE   BREEDING   PEOBLEM. 

The  stock  and  breeding  journals  of  this  country  abound  Avith  in- 
stances of  marked  and  jieculiar  qualities  and  traits  that  have  been 
acquired  by  certain  animals,  and  which  are  transmitted  to  their 
offspring  with  great  uniformity,  but  in  many  cases  differing  in  tiie 
degree  of  their  apparent  transmission.  It  is  also  very  noticeable  that 
in  some  instances  the  young  progeny  seem  to  have  the  peculiarities 
that  mark  or  disthiguish  the  family  to  a  degree  that  surpasses 
even  the  parents.  In  some,  the  habit  or  peculiarity  appears  either 
wanting  or  deficient  in  early  life,  but  at  a  later  period  develops  in  full 
force  and  intensity,  and  in  some  cases  the  early  precocity  appears  to 
grow  dim  or  feeble  with  age. 

Every  one  familiar  with  the  different  breeds  of  dogs  is  aware  of  the 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  in  the  habits  and  characteristics  of 
the  several  families  of  the  canine  species — how  then-  peculiar  traits 
develop  and  intensify  by  use  and  employment,  and  how  rapidly  they 
retrograde  by  indolence  and  a  change  in  employment.  A  pair  of 
young  Collies  or  shepherd  dogs  introduced  on  a  farm  where  there  are 
no  others  of  the  same  breed  and  no  cattle  or  sheep  to  herd,  instinctively 
herd  together  the  ducks  and  geese,  chickens  and  turkeys  on  the  farm, 
even  to  the  annoyance  of  the  feathered  bipeds.  But  they  must  have 
occupation,  for  such  are  their  instincts,  and  if  they  can  not  find  flocks 
of  sheep  they  will  huddle  together  the  geese  of  the  barn  yard  and 
stand  guard  about  them. 

So  of  the  ycung  setter  and  pointer.  My  first  lessons  in  chicken 
shooting  on  the  prairie  were  taken  over  a  young  dog  that  had  neither 
teacher  nor  trainer,  and  he  seemed  to  require  none.  His  hereditary 
instincts  caused  him  to  know  which  were  the  right  birds  and  in  a  little 
time  he  would  notice  no  other — a  rabbit  did  not  attract  his  attention  any 
more  than  a  pig  or  a  cat ;  but,  strange  to  say,  when  he  was  an  older 
dog,  and  from  want  of  emjiloyment  in  his  favorite  line — that  of  point- 
ing birds — he  had  learned  to  chase  rabbits  in  his  idle  hours,  he  seemed 
to  lose  much  of  the  unerring  sagacity  which  led  him  when  very 
young  to  seek  only  the  feathered  game.  He  was  bred  from  parents 
that  had  been  carefully  bred  for  the  latter  game  only.  Fox  hounds 
have  been  so  bred  that  they  would  run  and  cry  on  the  track  of  a  fox 
when  very  young  and  give  no  heed  to  a  rabbit  that  crossed  their 
path  in  full  sight.  From  their  breeding  they  were  true  to  the  game 
and  spurt  for  which  their  parents  of  the  kennel  had  been  kept ;  yet 
every  one  perhaps  knows  that  the  common  fox  hound  will  chase 
labbits  as  readily  and  as  persistently  as  anything  else  if  indulged  in 


I 


SELECTIONS  IN  BREEDING.  21 

that  sort  of  pastime.  However,  if  bred  from  stock  that  is  kept 
exclusively  for  the  fox  hunt,  they  are  true  to  their  hereditary 
instincts. 

"VVe  are  familiar  also  with  the  fact,  that  the  fecundity  of  certain 
animals  and  families  is  hereditary.  Sows  will  have  twelve  pigs  at  a 
litter  whose  dams  have  been  alike  fruitful  for  several  generations. 
Cows  that  bear  twins  or  are  habitually  large  milkers,  not  only  transmit 
that  quality  to  their  own  female  offspring  but  transmit  to  their  male  off- 
spring the  quality  of  begetting  others  with  like  characteristics.  It  is 
well  understood,  however,  that  in  order  to  maintain  their  hereditary 
qualities  in  perfection,  two  things  in  particular  are  necessary — one  is, 
that  the  animal  be  kept  and  used  for  the  purpose  that  calls  into  requi- 
sition the  peculiar  qualities  or  characteristics  for  which  the  animal  or 
breed  is  noted.  As  the  quality  was  developed  in  part  by  use,  so  it 
mwst  be  maintained  ;  and  if  allowed  to  grow  idle  or  indolent  and  fall 
into  disuse,  the  quality  is  lost  or  greatly  impaired,  and  will  not  be 
transmitted  to  the  offspring  in  the  force  and  positiveness  with  which 
it  originally  existed  in  the  given  animal  or  family. 

The  second  consideration  or  law  is,  that  in  cross-breeding  the  selec- 
tions be  made  of  such  animals  as  maintain  the  given  quality  in  like  or 
greater  degree,  and  in  whom  it  has  also  been  used  and  not  lain  idle 
and  dormant.  It  can  also  be  lost  or  confused  by  conflicting  traits  or 
qualities  by  cross-breeding  into  or  from  families  where  the  trait  is 
lacking,  or  where  conflicting  and  contrary  traits  existed.  These  two 
points  or  considerations  must  be  kept  constantly  in  view  if  we  would 
maintain  or  transmit  the  particular  qualities  desirable  in  breeding 
animals. 

CHANGES   WKOUGHT   BY    SELECTIONS   IN   BREEDING. 

All  our  domestic  animals  have  been,  to  a  great  degree,  moulded  and  fashioned 
by  the  hand  of  man.  The  same  uniformity  that  now  characterizes  the  bison, 
the  elk  and  the  deer,  belonged  to  the  horse,  the  cow,  the  sheep  and  the  hog, 
in  a  state  of  nature.  The  ponderous  English  cart  horse,  the  fleet  courser,  and 
the  diminutive  Shetland  pony,  are  all  descended  from  originals  that  were  as 
uniform  in  their  characteristics  as  are  the  members  of  a  herd  of  bison  upon 
our  Western  prairies.  The  Short-horn,  the  Hereford,  the  Devon,  the  Jersey,  and 
all  of  the  various  breeds  into  which  our  cattle  are  now  divided,  are  descended 
from  the  same  original  type.  The  changed  conditions  of  life  to  which  they 
have  been  subjected  by  domestication— the  variety  of  uses  to  which  they  hav« 
been  put,  the  food  upon  which  they  have  subsisted,  the  climate  in  which  they 
have  been  reared,  and  selection  for  especial  uses,  have  produced  the  variations 
which  are  now  so  apparent. 


22  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

Very  much  of  this  divergence  is  due  to  climatic  influences,  which  alone  are 
suflicieutly  powerful,  in  the  changes  of  food  and  of  habit  which  necessarily 
follow,  to  account  for  nearly  all  the  varieties  which  have  been  produced.  A 
warm  climate  and  a  bountiful  supply  of  nutritious  food  from  birth  to  maturity 
promote  growth  and  development,  while  a  scanty  supply  of  food  and  a  rigor- 
ous climate  hare  a  tendency  to  retard  growth  and  arrest  development.  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  eflects  of  heat  and  cold  upon  growth  and  development,  has  been 
taken  advantage  of  by  breeders  for  the  purpose  of  producing  dwarf  specimens. 
The  breeder  of  Bantam  fowls  is  careful  to  have  his  chicks  hatched  late  in  the 
season,  so  that  the  early  approach  of  cold  weather  may  arrest  development. 
The  bleak,  barren  and  tempestuous  islands — lying  in  the  high  latitude  of  59 
and  60  degrees — north  of  Scotland,  with  their  scanty  subsistence  and  long 
winters,  have  dwarfed  the  horse  until  he  appears  as  the  diminutive  Shetland 
pony,  while,  from  the  same  original,  the  rich  herbage,  nutritious  grains  and 
mild  climate  ten  degrees  further  south,  on  the  coast  of  France,  have  given  us 
the  immense  draft  horses  of  Normandy  and  Flanders. 

But  while  climate  and  the  necessarily  accompanying  influences  have  done 
much  to  cause  the  divergence  which  now  exists  in  races  that  were  once  uni- 
form, selection  by  the  hand  of  man  has  also  been  actively  at  work,  in  some  cases 
co-operating  with  the  influences  of  climate,  thereby  accelerating  the  trans- 
formation, and  in  others  counteracting  its  effect.  We  have  an  illustration  of 
this  in  the  horses  of  Canada.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the  causes  that  have 
given  us  the  tough,  shaggy  Canadian  pony,  if  continued  without  interruption 
for  a  succession  of  generations,  and  accelerated  by  the  efibrts  of  breeders  in  se- 
lecting animals  for  the  purpose  of  reproduction,  with  the  same  object  constantly 
in  view,  would,  in  course  of  time,  give  us  a  race  as  diminutive  as  the  ponies  of 
the  Shetland  Islands.  But  this  climatic  influence  has  been  retarded  and  counter- 
acted by  Canadian  breeders,  who  have  rejected  the  smaller  specimens  for 
breeding  purposes,  and  have  constantly  drawn  upon  the  large  draft  breeds  of 
Europe  for  fresh  crosses.  To  such  an  extent  has  this  infusion  of  fresh  blood 
been  carried  for  twenty-five  years  past,  that  the  influences  of  climate  have  been 
overpowered,  and  the  progression  has  been  decidedly  in  the  opposite  direction. 
The  efforts  of  Canadian  breeders  in  this  direction  have  been  aided  materially 
by  the  improved  condition  of  agriculture  in  the  Dominion,  which  has  led  to  a 
more  liberal  system  of  feeding,  and  more  thorough  protection  from  the  rigor 
of  the  climate.  And  thus  the  forces  and  influences  of  nature,  in  some  cases 
aided  and  in  others  counteracted  by  the  efforts  of  man,  have  constantly  l)een 
at  work  breaking  up  the  uniformity  which  originally  characterized  all  our 
domestic  animals,  imtil  divergence  from  the  original  type  has  become,  in  many 
instances,  truly  wonderful. 

The  influences  of  selection,  in  creating  divergence  from  a  type  singularly 
uniform,  finds  a  most  striking  illustration  in  the  case  of  the  domestic  pigeon, 
of  which  there  are  now  nearly  300  known  varieties,  more  or  less  distinct,  and 
all  descended  from  the  common  wild  rock  pigeon.  Among  these  varieties  the 
divergence  is  remarkable,  not  only  in  the  color  of  the  plumage,  which  in  the 
original  is  uniform,  but  in  the  shape  and  markings  of  the  various  parts. 
Who  would  imagine,  at  first  thought,  that  the  Pouters,  the  Carriers,  the  Runts, 


I 


SELECTIONS  IN  BREEDING.  23 

the  Barbs,  tlie  Fantails,  the  Owls,  the  Tumblers,  the  Frill-backs,  the  Jacobins, 
the  Trumpeters,  etc.,  and  all  their  sub-varieties,  with  differences  so  stroqgly 
marked,  are  descended  from  one  common  parent  stock  ?  Yet,  that  this  is  true, 
and  that  all  the  varieties  from  the  original  type  have  resulted  from  changed 
conditions  of  life,  climatic  influences  and  artificial  selection  and  crossing,  is 
generally  admitted  by  naturalists. 

It  is  a  fact  well  knowTi  among  swine  breeders  that  the  present 
breed  known  as  the  Poland-China  or  Magie  has  been  established 
within  the  past  thirty  years  mainly  by  one  intelligent  and  careful 
breeder  wholly  by  the  selection  of  animals  embracing  the  general 
qualities  of  his  particular  breed  that  have  reference  to  the  peculiar 
points  or  characteristics  which  he  sought  to  impress  on  his  stock.  He 
has  at  length  reached  a  certain  stjde  or  standard  of  excellence  in  tyj^e 
or  quality  embracing  a  large  number  of  points  for  which  this  breed 
are  noted  and  by  which  they  are  distinguished  from  all  others.  Thus, 
also,  has  the  breed  or  family  of  sheep  known  as  the  Oxford  Downs 
become  established  ;  first,  from  a  cross  between  two  distinct  breeds, 
and  then  successively  by  careful  selections  from  those  embracing  the 
blood  of  the  two  respective  families. 

The  importance  of  a  careful  selection  of  breeding  stock  can  not  be  over- 
-estimated.  It  is  the  magic  wand  with  which  the  breeder  may  change  at  will 
the  form  of  his  stock,  and  perpetuate  qualities  that  have  proven  of  excep- 
tional value.  It  has  been  the  principal  secret  of  the  success  of  all  who  have 
attained  to  eminence  in  the  business  of  breeding,  and  the  most  potent  of  all 
agents  in  creating  improved  breeds. 

A  careful  selection  of  animals  of  superior  merit  is  essential  to  improvement 
in  any  breed ;  and  constant  attention  to  the  same  process  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  prevent  deterioration  after  a  breed  has  been  formed.  The  breeder 
whose  admiration  for  a  particular  pedigree  or  family  or  breed  leads  him  to 
use  all  the  animals  of  his  favorite  race  for  breeding  purposes,  without  regard 
to  individual  merit,  is  treading  upon  dangerous  ground ;  for,  notwithstanding 
the  well-established  doctrine  that  the  general  characteristics  of  the  race  are 
more  likely  to  be  transmitted  than  individual  peculiarities,  it  must  always  be 
borne  in  mind  that  these  peculiarities  eire  also  transmitted  with  a  greater  or  less 
degree  of  certainty ;  and  that,  as  we  carefully  select  the  best  for  the  purpose 
of  effecting  improvement  in  a  breed,  we  must,  with  equal  care,  reject  the 
poorer  specimens  to  prevent  retrogression.  That  the  exceptionally  bad  quali- 
ties of  an  individual  are  quite  as  likely  to  be  transmitted  as  the  exceptionally 
good  ones,  is  as  well  established  as  any  principle  inbreeding;  and  no  man 
who  seeks  to  improve  his  stock,  or  even  to  maintain  the  degree  of  excellence 
already  attained,  can  afford  to  ignore  the  importance  of  a  rigid  selection  of 
the  best. 

In  no  department  of  stock  breeding  is  the  influence  of  heredity  and  of 
patient  selection  with  a  view  to  the  transmission  and  improvement  of  a  desired 


24  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

quality  more  apparent,  than  in  the  breeding  of  the  trotting  horse.  Fifty 
years  ago,  the  American  trotting  horse,  as  a  breed,  was  unthought  of;  and 
one  that  could  trot  a  mile  in  less  than  three  minutes  was  an  anomaly — an 
accidental  or  spontaneous  variation  from  the  established  type.  But  the  ability 
to  trot  fast  was  a  desirable  quality,  and  breeders  sought  to  perjietuate  it. 
Animals  that  excelled  the  average  of  the  species  as  trotters  were  selected  to 
breed  from,  with  a  view  to  perpetuating  and  intensifying  this  quality ;  but  as 
its  possession  was  at  that  time  an  accident — a  spontaneous  variation — it  was 
found  that  but  few  of  the  immediate  descendants  of  the  animals  first  chosen 
with  a  view  to  breeding  fast  trotters,  could  trot  faster  than  their  remote 
ancestors.  But  when  such  of  them  as  did  show  improvement  in  this  direction 
were  again  selected  for  breeding  purposes,  and  coupled  together,  it  was  found 
that,  while  there  were  still  many  failures,  the  proportion  of  the  descendants 
that  showed  improvement  in  the  trotting  gait  beyond  the  average  of  their 
ancestors,  was  increased.  And  so,  by  selecting  from  generation  to  generation, 
from  such  families  as  have  shown  a  tendency  to  improvement  in  this  quality, 
we  have  made  some  progress  toward  founding  a  breed  of  trotting  horses. 

So  generally  is  the  attention  of  the  breeders  of  trotting  horses  directed  to 
the  " bright  particular  stars"  in  the  trotting  firmament,  each  year,  that  we 
lose  sight  of  the  immense  number  of  horses  that  trot  in  2 :  30  to  3 :  50 — a  gait 
that  twenty,  and  even  ten  years  ago,  was  fast  enough  to  entitle  a  horse  to  rank 
as  a  creditable  performer  on  the  turf;  and  in  our  admiration  for  these  great 
performers  we  have  failed  to  note  the  extent  to  which  the  average  speed  of  the 
so-called  trotting  families  has  been  improved.  What  horseman  who  has 
reached  the  age  of  forty  years  can  not  remember  how  very  rare  three-minute 
trotters  were  when  he  was  a  boy !  And  yet  what  a  large  proportion  now  trot 
faster  than  three  minutes ! 

The  extent  of  the  improvement  which  has  been  efiected  will  be  more  appai^ 
ent  by  reference  to  some  of  our  trotting  statistics.  A  list  of  all  the  trotters 
that  had  made  a  public  record  of  a  mile  in  3 :  30  or  better  during  the  year 
1873,  contained  the  names  of  96  horses ;  in  1873  it  swelled  to  106,  and  in  1874 
it  included  153  names.  During  the  year  1875  the  list  was  so  greatly  increased 
that  it  numbered  184  horses.  In  1876  it  reached  225,  and  in  1877,  284  horses 
trotted  in  3 :  30  or  better. 

But  when  we  confine  our  observation  to  the  faster  classes  our  progress  is 
still  more  apparent.  Up  to  the  opening  of  the  season  of  1874,  onlj^  63  horses 
had  made  a  record  of  2 :  25  or  better  in  harness.  With  the  close  of  1877  the 
number  had  reached  316.  The  2:23  class  progressed  during  the  same  inter- 
val, from  34  to  106 ;  the  3 :  30  class  from  9  to  33 ;  and  the  3 :  19  class  from  3  to 
19 — certainly  a  very  encouraging  and  satisfactory  tribute  to  the  skill  of 
American  breeders. 

The  records  of  the  oldest  prominent  trotting  course  in  America  shows  a 
gradual  but  steady  increase  in  the  average  speed  of  all  the  heats  trotted  at 
each  meeting,  from  1866  down  to  last  season — a  period  of  twelve  years.  Com- 
mencing in  1866  with  2m  383^8  as  the  average  time  in  which  all  the  heats 
were  trotted,  it  has  been  gradually  lowered,  until  in  1876  it  reached  3 :  33. 

While  much  of  this  increase  in  the  average  speed  of  our  trotting  horses 


SELECTIONS   IN   BREEDING.  25 

should,  in  justice,  be  attributed  to  improvement  in  our  vehicles  and  tracks, 
and  to  increased  skill  in  the  trainer,  yet  it  is  undeniable,  that  by  far  the 
greater  portion  of  it  has  resulted  fi-om  increased  capacity  in  our  horses, 
bred  for  two,  three  or  four  generations  especially  with  reference  to  tliis  qual- 
ity ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  especial  remark,  that,  of  the  203  horses  with  a  record  of 
2 :  25  or  better,  whose  breeding  can  be  traced  even  as  far  as  the  sire,  over  90 
per  cent,  of  them  are  more  or  less  closely  related  to  one  or  more  of  our  recog- 
nized trotting  families. 

Hence,  while  chance  trotters  may  occasionally  be  produced,  as  of  yore, 
through  spontaneous  variations,  our  breeders  and  trainers  have  found  that  by 
confining  themselves  to  the  descendants  of  three  or  four  well-known  trotting 
families,  the  probabilities  of  producing  fast  trotters  are  infinitely  gi'eater  than 
by  going  outside,  for  within  these  families  the  trotting  gait  has  been  culti- 
vated by  selection  and  use,  until  heredity  has  begun  to  lend  its  powerful  aid 
in  transmitting  what  Avas  originally  a  spontaneous  or  accidental  superiority ; 
and  the  breeder  who  introduces  a  single  cross  in  which  the  trotting  gait  has 
not  become  an  inherent  quality,  only  adds  to  the  probabilities  of  failure,  and 
postpones  the  day  when  we  shall  be  able  to  breed  fast  trotters  Avith  certainty. 
There  is,  as  yet,  no  necessity  for  an  outcross  to  promote  strength,  endurance, 
and  vigor,  for  some  of  our  trotting  families  are,  in  this  respect,  the  peers  of 
any  breed  of  horses  in  the  world ;  and  there  is  still  sufficient  room  for  selec- 
tion within  these  families  to  correct  all  the  bad  effects  of  close  in-breeding. 

It  may  possibly  be  necessary  to  resort  to  some  crosses  outside  of  these  trot- 
ting families  for  improvement  in  some  other  quality;  but  there  is  no  outcross 
that  we  can  possibly  make  without  danger  to  the  transmission  and  improve- 
ment of  the  trotting  gait.  Even  those  of  our  trotters  that  belong  to  none  of 
the  recognized  trotting  families  are  almost  invariably  the  result  of  selection 
with  a  view  to  this  faculty.  In  almost  every  case  of  "breeding  unknown" 
we  have  found  that  the  dam  was  "  a  fast  trotter."  In  short,  the  more  thor- 
oughly w^e  investigate  the  course  of  breeding  that  has  produced  our  trotting 
horses,  the  more  completely  does  it  confirm  the  theory  of  breeding  from 
animals  that  possess  the  quality  we  wish  to  perpetuate. 

In  the  breeding  of  animals,  the  one  object  aimed  at  is  to  produce 
superiority  or  excellence  in  the  animal  for  the  purpose  for  which  he  is 
produced  or  kept.  The  value  of  a  trotting  stallion  is  dependent  on 
his  ability  to  reprodiice,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  qualities  of  speed 
and  endurance,  with  plenty  of  game,  courage,  style  and  tractability, 
in  his  offspring.  It  makes  no  difference  how  excellent,  or  how  indif- 
ferent, he  may  be  in  all  these  qualities  in  himself,  his  value  as  a 
stallion  depends  on  his  ability  to  transmit  these  cjualities.  He  may 
never  have  shown  any  excellence  as  a  trotter  himself,  of  which  the 
world  at  large  has  any  reliable  information — as  in  the  case  of  two 
notable  members  of  the  two  prominent  trotting  families — yet  his  value 
becomes  established  when  it  is  known  that  he  is  a  producer  of  trotters 
of  superiority. 


26  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  stallion  may  be  a  trotter  of  the  first  quality; 
he  may  come  of  the  royal  lines  of  blood  all  commingling;  his  pedi- 
gree may  be  as  rich  as  that  of  the  race-horse  that  stands  at  the  head 
of  the  list  for  four-miles  record;  but  when,  after  due  trial,  he  and  his 
family,  bred  in  similar  manner,  have  been  found  universally  to  fail  in 
reproducing  the  great  qualities  for  which  he  is  himself  distinguished, 
he  practically  ceases  to  have  any  value  as  a  stallion,  and  as  a  gelding 
he  would  earn  or  sell  for  more  money. 

Furthermore,  experience  and  observation  teach  us  that  in  breeding 
a  horse  for  a  great  performer  on  the  track  or  road,  we  can  breed  liim 
in  some  respects  unlike  Avhat  Ave  should  if  we  desired  a  reproducer  of 
the  qualities  which  constitute  a  great  trotter.  The  quality  and  breed- 
ing of  the  sire  and;  the  dam  enter  largely  into  either  case.  The  sire 
.  sliould  have  the  trotting  qualities  desired  in  high  degree,  and  they 
should  be  derived  from  both  inheritance  and  instruction.  The  dam,  if 
possessed  of  endurance  and  pluck,  and  enough  of  what  we  call  blood, 
may  be  lacking  in  the  inherited  trotting  quality,  yet  be  capable  of 
producing  a  trotter  of  the  highest  excellence.  The  dam  of  Lady 
Thorn  was  by  Gano,  a  thoroughbred  and  a  race-horse,  and  her  3d  dam 
was  by  a  son  of  a  thoroughbred  and  race-horse,  yet  there  are  some 
horsemen  who  believe  there  has  been  none  greater  than  Lady  Thorn. 
The  ready  trotting  action  and  habit,  in  her  case,  Avas  derived  from  the 
sire.  That  her  brother,  Mambrino  Patchen,  possesses  in  large  degree 
the  power  of  transmitting  the  trotting  quality,  proves  nothing,  as 
Mambrino  Chief  gave  that  faculty  to  his  sons  more  successfully  and 
more  universally  than  any  other  of  his  day.  That  was  his  forte.  In 
fact,  the  trotter  may  be  a  great  performer  but  lacking  in  the  necessary 
blood  qualities  of  a  sire.  Jim  Irving  was  one  of  the  fastest  trotters 
we  have  yet  seen,  but  he  certainly  possessed  no  trotting  blood  that 
would  have  given  any  promise  of  success  as  a  sire.  He  was  by  Young 
Melbourne,  son  of  Imported  Knight  of  St.  Geoi'ge. 

Trustee,  the  horse  who  trotted  a  twenty-mile  race,  acquired  a  fame 
for  himself  and  a  reputation  for  his  sire,  Imported  Trustee,  for  trotting 
blood  that  had  no  just  foundation.  His  performance  was  all  that 
could  be  placed  to  his  credit.  It  is  also  clear  to  my  mind  that  the 
great  trotter,  Geo.  M.  Patchen,  was  a  little  too  near  the  outer  edge  of 
trotting  blood  to  be  really  a  successful  sire,  although  he  had  capacity 
in  that  line,  but  far  less  than  we  should  expect  from  his  great  ability 
as  a  performer,  and  the  celebrity  of  his  own  sire. 

Grafton,  is  another  that  belongs  to  the  class  bred  for  a  performer 
and  not  a  reproducer. 


1 


SELECTION'S  IN  BREEDING.  27 

A  horse  may  also  excel  as  the  progenitor  of  a  family  of  trotting 
descendants  -whose  own  immediate  produce  are  not  so  noted  in  the 
€xlubition  of  speed  as  in  the  production  of  fast  performers.  The 
case  of  Hambletonian  and  his  own  sons  aifords  an  illustration  of  this 
point  that  is  most  satisfactory  and  instructive.  The  best  records 
attained  by  any  of  his  own  produce  are  as  follows:  Dexter,  3:17:^; 
Nettie,  2:18;  Gazelle,  2:21;  Jay  Gould,  2:21^;  Bella,  2:22;  Geo. 
TVilkes,  2:22;  Young  Bruno,  2:22f;  Lady  Banker,  2:23;  Jas.  Howell, 
Jr.,  2:24;  and  Mattie,  2:24;  only  ten  with  records  better  than  2:25, 
out  of  about  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  sons  and  daughters. 
Volunteer,  his  son,  out  of  a  produce  that  does  not,  perhaps,  equal  one- 
half  the  number  credited  to  Hambletonian,  has  twelve  performers  who 
have  made  records  of  2:25  and  better,  viz.:  Gloster,  2:17;  Bodine, 
•2:19^;  Huntress,  2:20f;  Powers,  2:21^;  Amy,  2:22^;  St.  Julien, 
2:22i;  Trio,  2:23^;  VV.  H.  Allen,  2:23^;  Frank  Wood,  2:24;  Carrie, 
^:24^;  Alley,  2:244-;  and  Driver,  2:25.  Alexander's  Abdallah,  another 
son,  produced  Goldsmith  Maid,  that  has  a  record  of  2:14;  Rosalind, 
2:21f ;  Thorndale,  2:22^;  and  Almont,  who  produced  Allie  West,  that 
at  the  age  of  five  years  had  a  record  of  2:25. 

But  if  we  take  into  the  account  the  descendants  of  each  sire  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generation,  Hambletonian  stands  immeasurably  supe- 
rior to  Volunteer  and  all  other  stallions.  We  believe  Volunteer  has 
not  more  than  a  single  descendant,  except  his  o^wti  immediate  get,  that 
has  a  record  of  better  than  2:30,  while  the  old  horse  has  at  least  ninety- 
five  descendants,  in  the  male  line  a/one,  that  appear  in  the  2:30  list, 
and  almost  every  week  adds  to  the  number.  Judged  by  the  records, 
therefore,  Volunteer  stands  as  the  greatest  sire  of  trotters,  while,  as  the 
progenitor  of  a  family  of  trotting  horses^  his  sire,  Hambletonian,  was 
very  greatly  his  superior.  For  all  this  the  great  stallion  of  the  family 
may  at  some  day  be  found  among  the  sons  of  Volunteer.  The  dam 
has  much  to  do  \\dth  that  question.  So  universally  is  this  matter 
understood  that  the  breeder  will  be  deemed  a  fortunate  man  who  shall 
produce  an  animal  having  the  far  reaching  influence  and  enduring 
excellence  of  Hambletonian,  although  he  never  trotted  a  mile  in  2:30, 
•or  gave  evidence  that  he  was  certainly  capable  of  so  doing. 

In  breedino;  trotters,  we  must  have  reg-ard  to  the  readv  trotting: 
action,  as  well  as  to  the  lasting  and  improving  capacity.  A  trotting 
family  must  not  require  that  the  first  elements  of  their  trotting  gait 
shall  be  tauo-ht  them ;  the v  must  have  it  alreadv  b v  nature  and  inherit- 
ance;  but,  in   addition   to  this,  they    must,  in   order  that  they,  attain 


28  THE  BEEEDING  PROBLEM. 

unto  excellence  as  trotting  sires,  have  a  capacity  for  long-continued 
training  and  a  high  degree  of  advancement;  hence  the  two  great 
requisites  in  a  family  are,  first,  the  natural  and  ready  trotting  gait; 
and,  secondly,  the  lasting  and  improving  capacity.  While  a  trotter 
and  his  dam  may  possess  originally  only  the  latter,  the  sire,  if  really  a 
great  one,  should  have,  by  right  of  inheritance,  both.  He  will  not 
transmit  with  certainty  that  which  he  does  not  derive  from  his  blood. 

Moreover,  it  has  been  also  ascertained  that  some  of  the  most  valua- 
ble qualities  of  the  trotter  are  transmitted  by  either  sex  with  varying 
degrees  of  success  in  different  families — in  some  excelling,  and  in. 
some  failing,  in  the  male  line,  and  in  others  exactly  the  reverse.  In 
some  of  these  cases  the  fact  has  only  been  established  by  repeated  ex- 
perience, and  can  with  difficulty  be  traced  to  any  satisfactory  cause ;  in 
others,  it  is  the  result  of  well-known  and  clearly-understood  principles.. 
This  fact  very  greatly  affects  the  value  of  a  stallion.  The  most 
notable  example  of  this  has  been  the  case  of  the  American  Star 
mares.  These  were,  many  of  them,  superior  trotters — as  fast  as  the 
thirties  themselves — and  as  the  dams  of  great  ones,  from  Hamble- 
tonian  as  the  sire,  their  fame  is  as  imperishal^le  as  his  own,  while  that 
of  the  sons  is  so  far  eclipsed  as  to  leave  their  names  in  comparative 
obscurity. 

We  shall,  as  we  advance  further  into  our  subject,  find  the  true 
philosophy  of  the  fact  last  stated  to  be  in  that  quality  of  the  Duroc 
blood  and  conformation,  which  on  the  female  side  yields  to  the  trot- 
ting qualities  of  the  Messenger  sire,  but  when  the  sex  is  reversed 
runs  back  in  its  tendency  toward  the  blood  of  Diomed,  which  was. 
totally  lacking  in  trotting  quality. 

It  has  been  claimed,  that  of  the  offspring  of  Imported  Glencoe,  the 
chief  value  for  breeding  puq^oses  was  in  the  daughters,  and  in  the 
case  of  Hambletonian  it  has  gained  some  currency  that  the  breeding 
excellence  is  only  on  the  male  side — but  of  this  more  hereafter.  The 
stallions  Almont,  Administrator,  Blackwood  and  Swigert  have  assumed 
great  prominence  as  trotting  sires,  and  it  begins  to  attract  some  atten- 
tion that  their  dams  were  by  Mambrino  Chief,  and  also  that  the  most 
signal  success  of  the  former  has  been  with  mares  by  the  same  sire;  and 
gradually  the  opinion  is  gaining  ground,  that  the  fame  of  the  Mambrino 
Chief  blood  is  yet  to  rest  in  the  superiority  of  the  female  side  as  the 
dams  of  trotters  and  trotting  sires — but  of  this  more  hereafter. 

When  I  come  to  treat  of  the  value  of  racing  blood,  or  that  of  the 
thoroughbred,  as  infused  or  to  be  infused  into  the  trotter  or  the  trot- 


SELECTIONS   IN   BREEDING.  29 

ting  sire,  it  will  be  also  seen  that  the  question  of  sex  greatly  affects 
the  subject,  and  as  relating  to  this  matter  o£  blood  forces,  as  affected 
by  sex,  many  illustrations  will  be  given. 

Another  important  fact  should  also  be  kept  in  mind  as  one  of 
the  incidents  to  this  matter  of  breeding,  which  might  be  said  to 
amount  to  a  law  or  rule,  if  its  limits  and  operations  could  at  all  times 
be  defined  or  even  understood.  Its  effects  are  often  seen,  and  this 
fact  is  sometimes  only  kno^ATi  by  its  visible  results,  Avhen  the  causes 
or  principles  from  which  it  springs  can  not  clearly  be  traced.  It  is 
what  is  termed  niching^  or  the  readiness  "with  which  certain  strains  of 
blood  unite  and  produce  valuable  results;  or  the  certainty  with  which 
certain  crosses  almost  invariably  either  succeed  or  fail.  This  is  an 
incident  of  breeding  in  all  its  departments. 

In  the  breeding  of  trotters  there  often  occurs  what  may  justly  be 
termed  a  phenomenon — apparent  in  its  results,  but  often  difficult  to 
account  for  in  principle^ — the  case  where,  in  a  union  of  two  families  of 
known  and  positive  trotting  qualities,  the  produce  totally  fails  in  that 
one  particular  in  which  the  sire  and  dam  both  excel.  The  case  is 
similar  to  that  of  two  powerful  acids  or  chemicals  that,  separately, 
prove  destructive  to  many  material  substances  with  which  they  may 
come  in  contact,  but  united,  the  joint  j^roduct  is  totally  harmless — the 
one  entirely  neutralizing  the  other,  and  thvis  two  very  powerful  agents, 
by  a  union,  forming  an  inert  and  worthless  substance.  Such  is  often 
the  ease  in  breeding  trotters  from  families  of  fixed  type,  each  having 
in  themselves  fixed  and  valuable  characteristics. 

The  case  of  the  Bellfovmder  and  Abdallah  blood  in  some  respects 
furnishes  an  illustration  of  this  fact,  although  this  may  strike  some  of 
my  readers  as  a  rather  rash  announcement.  Hambletonian  himself, 
great  as  he  deservedly  stands,  and  will  continue  to  stand,  in  a  fame 
and  a  reputation  that  eclipses  all  others,  contemporary  or  anterior,  was 
limited  in  the  range  of  his  successes,  beyond  doubt,  by  the  very  com- 
bination of  that  Bellfounder  and  Abdallah  blood  which  made  him 
great.  The  union  of  these  two  elements  operated  to  withhold  his 
great  excellence  in  many  instances,  owing  to  the  fitness  of  the  compo- 
nent parts  for  the  particular  cross  not  l^eing  then,  and  2:)erhaps  not 
now,  understood — the  one  refusing  to  impart  its  own  or  to  receive  the 
good  qualities  of  the  other.  In  tliis  respect,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
Bellfovmder  blood,  as  has  been  charged,  did  often  Avork  against  the 
blood  of  Abdallah.  And  this  was  further  exemplified  in  the  immedi- 
ate  crossing  of  Hambletonian  with  mares  of  Bellfounder  blood;  in 


30  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

such  cases  the  lock  was  still  more  complete.  The  results  of  such  re- 
crossing  have  not  been  worth  recording,  (except  in  the  lesson  taught), 
notwithstanding  the  Bellfounder  stock,  as  trotting  stock,  were  of  no 
ordinary  reputation  for  grand  and  powerful  trotting  action,  not  equaled, 
perhaps,  by  that  of  any  other  then  existing.  The  real  value  and  effect 
of  this  Bellfounder  cross  in  Hambletonian  is,  perhaps,  so  imperfectly 
understood  in  all  its  relations  and  tendencies  as  to  cause  many  to 
regard  it  as  worthless  and  positively  hurtful,  while  another  class  esteem 
it  the  really  valuable  cross  in  this  now  great  and  popular  family. 

Hambletonian  has  been  called  the  key  that  unlocked  the  excellence 
of  the  Star  mares.  The  real  faict  is,  that  the  Star  mares  were  the  key 
that  unlocked  the  veteran  old  horse,  and  liberated  the  treasures  that 
the  Bellfounder  blood  had  shut  up  in  him.  It  is  beyond  doubt,  in 
great  part  owing  to  this  Bellfounder  cross — valuable  though  it  is — 
that  Hambletonian  is  so  uncertain  and  so  unequal  in  the  results  of  his 
produce — but  of  this  more  at  the  proper  time. 

The  Mambrino  and  Pilot  cross  is  one  noted  for  bold  and  free 
trotting  action,  yet  I  have  great  doubt  whether  stallions  of  this  cross 
will  not  totally  fail  when  bred  to  mares  of  the  Hambletonian  families, 
although  the  reverse  may  be  looked  to  for  very  valuable  results. 
Such  is  the  fickleness  of  the  matter  of  sex  in  many  cases. 

When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  the  Hambletonian  family  is  on& 
of  a  very  fixed  type,  and  very  strong  and  positive  in  blood,  and  that 
a  female  of  such  character  does  not  readily  yield  her  individuality  in 
an  outcross  vnth.  one  of  inferior  blood,  we  will  readily  understand 
why  these  mares  are  not  successful  when  crossed  vpith  Mambrino  and 
Pilot,  or  other  stallions  of  a  lower  grade  of  blood.  The  same  principle 
explains  the  ready  success  of  the  majority  of  the  sons  of  Hambleto- 
nian when  crossed  Avith  the  lower-bred  mares  of  Mambrino  and  Pilot 
grades. 

Again,  the  strictly  thoroughbred  mares,  from  the  rigid  and  fixed  caste 
of  their  blood,  refuse  to  yield  to  the  Bellfounder  element  in  Hamble- 
tonian, and  do  not  cross  well  with  any  of  his  sons,  except  when  au 
intermediate  cross  has  intervened  that  serves  as  an  alchemy  to  dissolve 
and  assimilate  that  otherwise  obstinate  element.  Whenever  Volunteer 
has  attained  any  mastery  in  the  cross  with  a  thoroughbred  mare,  h& 
owes  it  to  the  intermediate  agency  of  his  Patriot  dam. 

In  this  matter  of  one  sex  transmitting  certain  qualities  which  are 
not  transmitted  alike  by  the  opposite  sex,  were  it  not  a  fact  within 
the  observation  of  every  breeder  of  experience,  it  would  afi"ord  no 


SELECTIONS  IN  BREEDING.  31 

greater  anomaly  than  the  case  of  Edward  Lambert,  whose  body  was 
covered  with  the  horny  excrescences.  He  transmitted  this  pecu- 
Harity  to  his  sons  but  not  to  his  daughters,  and  it  was  likewise  trans- 
mitted, by  his  only  sou  of  the  six  who  survived,  to  his  sons,  but  not 
by  his  daughters  nor  to  any  of  the  female  descendants.  It  was 
transmitted  through  the  male  line  for  six  generations  and  then 
disappeared. 

As  closely  connected  with  this  subject,  it  is  highly  proper  also  to 
advert  to  the  fact  that  it  very  frequently  occurs  that  one  gait  is 
materially  modified  by  crossing  with  another  family  possessing  a  good 
but  different  style  of  action.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  colt 
would  possess  a  gait  somewhat  different  from  each  of  his  parents,  but 
sometimes  it  results  that  the  way  of  going  is  highly  defective.  I  will 
not  stop  here  to  treat  of  the  true  trotting  gait,  but  it  will  be  sufficient 
for  my  purpose  to  say  that  if,  in  the  case  of  two  different  gaits,  each 
in  no  special  way  objectionable,  the  joint  produce  should  show 
abundance  of  trotting  action,  but  at  the  same  time  of  suqh  faulty  kind 
as  to  require  art  and  the  appliances  of  skillful  treatment  to  remedy 
that  defect,  there  may  be  a  direct  loss  instead  of  a  positive  gain. 
The  resort  to  weights  to  balance  up  a  trotter  and  cause  him  to  go  level 
and  steady  may  accomplish  the  object,  but  the  necessity  for  such  a 
resort  is  a  loss. 

A  trotter  should  go  level  and  steady  before  and  behind,  and  he 
should  not  be  a  sprawler,  although  such  defect  can  in  great  part  be 
overcome  by  skillful  treatment;  but  there  is  great  loss  of  motion  and 
power  in  all  such  cases.  Economy  is  the  great  law  of  life  in  all  its 
departments — economy  of  forces,  of  resources,  and  also  in  results.  A 
colt  must  not  trot  too  high  nor  too  low  in  front,  and  he  must  not  do 
all  his  trotting  with  his  forelegs.  Here  comes  the  great  difficulty  to 
be  apprehended  at  all  times  in  crossing  the  Morgan  family,  with  their 
high-knee  action,  or  the  Pilots  and  Mambrinos,  with  their  wide-open, 
almost  sprawling  action,  on  Hamljletonians  and  others  that  excel  in 
their  even,  true  stride,  jDassing  over  great  lengths  "with  little  show  of 
trotting  action.  The  results  of  such  crossing  are  apparent  already  in 
some  very  notable  quarters,  and  will  in  time  detract  greatly  from 
some  of  the  most  popular  families  now  before  the  public. 

In  close  connection  with  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  must  be  kept  in 
mind,  at  all  times,  that  it  often  occurs  in  breeding  various  kinds  of 
domestic  animals  that  certain  qualities  develop  or  disappear,  strength- 
en   or    weaken    when   they   encounter   certain   crosses.     Tliis   often 


32  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

occurs  irrespective  of  the  value  or  nature  of  the  quality.  It  seems 
that  particular  soils  are  favorable  to  its  develoj^ment  and  growth,  and 
this  often  when  there  is  no  similarity  of  tendency  in  the  soil  in  wliich 
the  peculiarity  starts  or  grows.  Thus  the  hea^■y  shoulders  and  hind- 
quarters of  Hambletonian  come  from  the  Bellfounder  cross;  it  is 
a  peculiarity  entirely  foreign  to  the  Abdallah  family,  yet  its  devt-lop- 
ment  in  the  case  of  Haiubletonian  and  some  of  his  sons  far  surpasses 
the  same  development  in  Brown's  Bellfounder  or  any  of  his  stock. 
The  representatives  of  the  Bellfounder  family,  wherever  found,  so  far 
as  any  of  that  stock  exist,  show  their  resemblance  in  part  to  that 
feature  of  their  original,  l)ut  in  no  case  to  the  extent  found  in  Ham- 
bletonian and  some  of  his  sons.  The  germ  came  from  the  Bellfounder, 
but  it  greatly  jDrogressed  in  the  soil  of  Abdallah  and  Messenger, 
where  none  of  it  previously  existed.  It  can  hardly  be  supposed  any 
one  will  be  found  who  will  claim  that  this  is  an  anatomical  structure 
as  exhibited  in  its  largest  proportions,  that  is  favorable  to  speed, 
although  one  of  great  strength.  Likewise,  often  a  mare  will  be  found 
to  produce  colts  with  a  certain  quality  not  visible  in  herself — as  speed, 
or  a  peculiarity  of  gait — a  good  or  bad  quality,  and  this  quality,  thus 
originating  from  an  unknown  cause,  Avill  develop  and  increase  in  the 
offspring  of  such  colts.  Thus  sometimes  very  valual^le  traits  originate, 
and  also  seiious  defects,  which  are  very  difficult  to  eradicate.  One 
of  the  distinguished  sons  of  Hambletonian  exliibits  a  narrowness 
of  foot,  particularly  at  the  heel,  which  to  the  most  casvial  observer 
must  be  regarded  as  objectionable.  The  same  peculiarity  is  exhibited 
in  all  of  his  offspring  that  have  come  under  my  observation.  On 
inquiry,  I  am  informed  that  his  dam,  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
trotters  this  country  ever  produced,  went  lame  from  the  same  cause. 
Hambletonian  and  his  family  general!}'"  have  very  superior  feet. 

The  pacing  gait  in  the  Cadmus  family  began  with  Iron's  Cadmus, 
and  seems  to  have  been  derived  from  his  dam.  Cadmus,  the  sire,  had 
no  more  pacing  blood  in  him  than  American  Eclipse,  his  sire;  yet  the 
pacing  tendency  of  all  the  descendants  of  Iron's  Cadmus  shows  that 
in  him  it  started  and  became  j^art  of  the  blood,  bone,  or  brain,  or 
wheresoever  the  quality  rests — of  which  more  hereafter.  .  Thus,  also, 
the  quitting  characteristics  of  some  of  the  Clays,  from  Avhich  the  rep- 
utation of  a  famih^,  otherwise  one  of  the  best,  has  suffered  so  much, 
evidently  came  from  siich  a  source.  It  has  l>een  generally  regarded 
as  coming  from  the  low  breeding  of  the  Surrey  mare,  the  dam  of 
Henry  Clay,  and  that  it  consists  of  a  lack  of  breeding — a  want  of 


SELECTIONS   IN   BEEEDING.  33 

bottom;  but  this  can  not  be  the  case.  Two  crosses  of  thorough  blood 
often  make  a  dam.  capable  of  throAving  a  trotter  such  as  Lady  Thorn 
or  Dexter,  no  matter  how  insignificant  the  stock  was  anterior  to  that 
point;  and  while  the  performances  and  the  breeding  of  George  M. 
Patchen  guarantee  his  blood  to  be  beyond  any  lack  of  bottom,  the 
quitting  tendency  in  some  of  the  Clays  proves  it  to  be  a  deep-seated 
trait  of  character,  rooted  in  the  mental  or  nervous  organization,  and  not 
in  any  lack  of  stamina.  It  is  not  because  they  can't,  but  because  they 
■won't.     All  such  traits  are  deep-seated  and  very  difficult  to  eradicate. 

We  have  lately  heard  much  of  the  Clay  cross  in  the  Hambletonian 
family,  that  has  gone  far  to  redeem  the  Clays  from  the  odium  which 
for  awhile  attached  to  them;  but  upon  this,  as  on  many  other  branches 
of  the  subject,  great  ignorance  is  displayed  by  many  of  those  who 
"write  for  the  edification  of  the  public.  A  clear  analysis  of  the  so- 
called  Clay  cross  in  each  instance  will  perhaps  show  that  the  success 
of  the  union  has  been  in  no  certain  deg-ree  attributable  to  a  single 
element  of  the  Clay  blood,  properly  so  called.  Of  this  subject  I 
shall  treat  very  fully  when  I  come  to  the  proper  place  to  deal  with  the 
branches  of  those  families  respectively,  where  the  peculiarities  of  these 
two  elements  have  been  most  clearly  manifested. 

In  the  breeding  of  horses — and  perhaps  of  other  animals — it  must 
always  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  union  of  diverse  elements  involves  at 
all  stages  a  contest  for  supremacy  of  blood  forces.  The  peculiar 
quahties  of  one  blood  may  appear  to  prevail,  while  another  may  be 
apparently  overcome;  yet  at  subsequent  stages,  or  in  different  unions, 
either  owing  to  reinforcement  or  modification  of  these  forces  from 
other  causes,  the  relative  positions  of  the  several  elements  become 
reversed — that  which  was  predominant  assumes  a  jiosition  secondary 
to  that  which  had  before  been  insignificant.  A  qu.ality  that  was 
apparently  absent,  but  in  reality  dormant  and  concealed,  often  shines 
out  with  great  lustre  in  connection  with  elements  that  seem  to  have 
no  apparent  fitness  or  adaptation  to  calling  out  such  peculiar  manifes- 
tations. 

It  is  a  fact  also  established  in  breeding  that  certain  qualities  have  a 
tendency  to  prevail,  if  coming  from  a  male,  over  other  quahties,  com- 
ing from  a  female,  but  which  do  not  thus  assert  this  tendency  when 
the  respective  sexes  are  reversed.  Thus  the  Diomed  blood,  concern- 
ing which  most  erroneous  estimates  have  prevailed,  is  an  element  in 
the  composition  of  a  trotting  sire  whose  influence  at  all  times  tends 
toward  an  abatement  or  deterioration  of   the  trotting  quality,  but 


3-1  THE   BREEDINCr   PROBLEM. 

which  can  be  and  has  proved  in  the  dams  of  trotters  a  factor  of  apjire- 
ciated  value.  It  is  also  true  beyond  doubt  that  the  Bellfounder  blood, 
when  united  with  that  of  Messenger,  found  its  true  place  at  all  times 
when  presented  in  the  composition  of  the  dam,  as  in  the  case  of  Ham- 
bletonian.  King  Phillip,  and  all  the  distinguished  produce  of  mares  by 
Sayer's  Harry  Clay,  and  in  the  case  of  Harry  Clay  himself.  It  may 
not  be  easy  to  explain  why  this  peculiarity  exists,  but  the  fact  is 
established  by  many  examples. 

In  the  subsequent  chapters  of  this  volume  attention  wall  be  called  to 
the  fact,  that  the  class  of  blood  coming  from  the  union  of  that  of  Mes- 
senger and  Duroc,  and  termed  Duroc- Messenger,  has  this  quality  in 
an  eminent  degree,  that  it  displays  great  success  when  presented  in  a 
trotting  combination  on  the  side  of  the  dam,  but  as  such  fails  of  its- 
chief  excellence  when  presented  on  the  side  of  the  sire,  where  the 
dam  is  strong  either  in  Messenger  or  Bellfounder  blood.  This  may  be 
regarded  by  some  as  savoring  of  mysticism,  but  to  all  such  I  present 
the  case  of  Edward  Lambert  and  his  sons  for  six  generations,  and 
when  the  facts  in  that  case  are  refuted  or  their  philosophy  explained, 
we  shall  be  prepared  to  understand  why  it  is  that  sires  to  succeed 
with  mares  of  a  certain  composition  should  themselves  possess  certain 
blood  traits  in  preference  to  others. 

Another  important  truth,  known  to  many,  but  apparently  understood 
by  few,  is  that  in  breeding  trotters  from  thoroughbred  dams,  or  mares 
that  are  strong  in  the  blood  of  the  thoroughbred,  the  offspring  are  apt 
to  display  the  known  precocity  of  the  thoroughbred  in  regard  to  their 
earliness  of  maturity,  in  the  matter  of  trotting  excellence,  but  fail  to 
retain  it,  or  at  least  fail  to  improve  with  age.  One  family  in  particular, 
where  a  Duroc-Messenger  sire  attained  a  most  brilliant  reputation  as 
the  sire  of  young  trotters,  and  was  particularly  distinguished  by  the 
attractive  and  showy  gaits  of  his  produce  from  thoroughbred  mares,, 
but  whose  fame  would  now  be  regarded  as  resting  on  slender  sup- 
ports indeed  if  he  had  nothing  to  show  but  his  list  of  2:30  trotters 
descended  from  mares  thus  bred. 

The  explanation  of  all  tliis  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  blood  of 
Diomed,  whose  tendency  at  all  times  is  fCgainst  the  trotting  quality^ 
when  it  was  reinforced  by  the  same  or  by  kindred  strains  coming  from 
thoroughbred  mares,  worked  against  the  real  trotting  quality  in  the 
aftiimal  produced,  and  in  spite  of  the  early  appearances  which  gave 
so  much  of  promise,  the  horse  at  maturity  was  not  a  trotter.  The  pro- 
duce of  Mambrino  Patchen  and  Woodford  Mambrino  from  thoroujrh- 


SELECTION'S  IN  BREEDING.  35 

bred  mares  can  not  be  embraced  in  the  list  of  trotters,  unless  in  rare 
instances.  The  tendency  was  to  work  back  toward  the  original  blood, 
and  that  was  the  blood  of  a  race-horse  and  not  a  trotter. 

In  this  connection  the  following  extracts  are  both  suggestive  and 
full  of  sound  pliilosophy: 

It  is  one  of  the  principles  of  heredity,  that  wlien  there  is  great  uniformity 
in  a  species,  divergences  from  the  usual  type  in  the  offspring  are  slight  and 
rare ;  but  when  this  uniformity,  from  no  matter  what  cause,  has  been  broken 
up,  divergences  in  the  offspring  are  frequent  and  great,  although  there  is- 
always  present  a  tendency,  more  or  less  powerful,  to  revert  to  the  original 
type.  This  tendency  is  most  frequently  manifested  when  breeds  or  races, 
widely  differing  in  their  present  forms,  are  crossed  upon  each  other.  In  such 
cases,  or  violent  crosses,  as  they  are  called,  it  frequently  happens  that  the 
progeny  resembles  neither  parent,  but  shows  strong  marks  of  the  type  from 
which  both  of  its  ancestors  originally  sprung.  Darwin,  in  his  work,  already 
referred  to,  gives  numerous  illustrations  of  this  tendency  to  reversion,  in  his 
experiments  with  pigeons  of  various  breeds  and  colors,  one  of  which  we  quote, 
as  follows : 

"I  paired  a  mongrel  female  barbfautail  with  a  mongrel  male  barb-spot; 
neither  of  which  mongrels  had  the  least  blue  about  them.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  blue  barbs  are  excessively  rare;  that  spots,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  were  perfectly  characterized  in  the  year  1676,  and  breed  perfectly  true ; 
this  likewise  is  the  case  with  white  fantails,  so  much  so  that  I  have  never 
heard  of  white  fantails  throwing  any  other  color.  Nevertheless  the  offspring 
from  the  above  two  mongrels  were  of  exactly  the  same  blue  tint  as  that  of  the 
wild  rock-pigeon,  from  the  Shetland  Islands,  over  the  whole  back  and  wings ; 
the  double  black  wing-bars  were  equally  conspicuous ;  the  tail  was  exactly 
alike  in  all  its  characters,  and  the  croup  was  pure  white;  the  head,  however, 
was  tinted  with  a  shade  of  red,  evidently  derived  from  the  spot,  and  was  of  a 
paler  blue  than  in  the  rock-pigeon,  as  was  the  stomach.  So  that  two  black 
barbs,  a  red  spot,  and  a  white  fantail,  as  the  four  purely-bred  grandparents, 
produced  a  bird  of  the  same  general  blue  color,  together  with  every  character- 
istic mark,  as  in  the  wild  Columba  liviay 

This  tendency  to  reversion  in  different  breeds  of  domestic  animals  when 
crossed,  accounts  for  many  of  the  disappointments  which  breeders  experience 
in  their  efforts  to  improve  their  stock,  and  serves  greatly  to  complicate  the 
breeding  problem. 

This  matter  may  be  of  some  importance  to  those  amateur  breeders 
who  are  constantly  demanding  that  Ave  should  have  more  frequent 
recurrence  to  the  blood  of  the  thoroughbred  to  give  stamina  and 
hio:h  quality  to  our  roadsters,  and  is  thrown  in  here  as  germane  to  the 
subject  particularly  under  consideration,  although  the  topic  last  referred 
to  is  specially  treated  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Another  important  truth  is  very  frequently  overlooked — not  being 


36  THE   BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

really  understood  by  many  and  only  to  be  learned  by  experience  and 
close  observation — namely,  that  the  transmission  of  certain  qualities, 
good  or  bad,  for  which  a  given  family  is  noted,  does  not  always  proceed 
in  direct  proportion  to  the  quantum  or  arithmetical  proportion  of  the 
blood  of  such  family  represented  in  the  animal  em])loyed. 

Thus,  the  trotting  quality  of  the  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  families 
is  not  in  many  cases  transmitted  by  sires  with  six  separate  lines  of  the 
blood  of  either  of  these  sires  with  a  force  equal  to  that  displayed 
by  Rhode  Island,  a  remote  descendant  of  a  daughter  of  Messenger, 
and  embracing  but  this  single  and  remote  line  of  his  blood  and  no 
known  trottmg  quality  aside  from  that  thus  derived. 

In  like  manner,  the  tendency  of  the  Duroc  blood  toward  infirmity 
in  the  matter  of  spavins,  curbs  and  ringbones  is  often  transmitted  in 
a  sino-le  line  or  smaller  number  of  the  same  with  OTeat  force  and  viru- 
lence,  while  other  families  and  animals  showing  a  larger  quantum  of 
that  blood  are  apparently  free  from  all  taint  or  infirmity. 

This  latter  featui'e  is  contrary  to  the  general  rule,  which  is  ordinarily 
safely  followed,  namely,  that  the  good  or  bad  qualities  of  a  family 
vrill  transmit  in  direct  and  arithmetical  proportion  (to  a  great  extent) 
to  the  quantum  of  such  blood  possessed  by  the  animal  employed,  and 
that  such  tendencies  are  reinforced  and  invigorated  by  successive 
reunions  of  separate  lines  of  such  blood  after  the  same  has  been 
departed  from  for  a  period.  By  this  method,  the  best  and  most  distin- 
guished results  have  been  attained  in  the  breeding  of  trotters. 

CEOSS-BREEDING. 

It  must  be  also  kept  in  mind,  that  all  trotting  blood  is  not  alike, 
and  that  the  blood  of  different  trotting  families  is  not  so  far  homoge- 
neous that  they  may  be  employed  to  reinforce  each  other.  They  are  as 
likely  to  counteract  as  to  aid  in  securing  trotting  excellence.  Hence  it 
is,  that  we  sometimes  find  a  horse  so  bred  as  to  embrace  the  blood  of 
every  distinguished  trotting  family  known  among  breeders,  and  his 
failure  as  a  trotter  or  breeder  is  not  less  complete  than  is  the  list  of 
trotting  crosses  embraced  in  his  pedigree. 

A  pedigree  may  embrace  very  little  and  yet  be  borne  by  a  good 
horso,  and  it  may  embrace  the  blood  of  every  eminent  trotter  or  noted 
family  in  the  land,  yet  but  adorn  an  animal  of  no  value  whatever  as 
a  performer  or  breeder. 

Nothing  is  so  common  as  a  pedigree  parading  crosses  of  all  the 
noted  trotting  families,  which  the  owner  exhibits  with  entire  confi- 


CROSS-BREEDING.  87 

dence  that  it  embraces  all  the  excellencies  that  have  appeared  in  our 
past  or  present  exj^erience  in  breeding  trotters.  The  utter  failure  of 
the  colt,  either  as  a  trotter,  or  a  reproducer  of  trotting  excellence,  is 
at  length  reached,  but  only  serves  to  impress  liis  breeder  with  the  pro- 
found conviction  that  the  whole  business  is  a  matter  of  chance — a 
lottery  of  the  most  absolute  uncertainty.  He  is  assured  by  some  of 
the  learned  ones  that  trotters  go  in  all  forms — and  he  overlooks  the 
important  fact  that  they  also  go  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  as  the  legitimate 
and  inevitable  result  of  their  multifarious  forms — and  that  these  ways 
of  going,  and  these  diverse  forms  are  the  legitimate  and  inevitable 
result  of  physical  conformation,  and  nerve  or  mental  traits  that  are 
not  only  dissimilar,  but  often  operate  in  dissimilar  ways  in  breeding — 
often  operate  against  each  other — are  often  inharmonious  in  their 
combinations,  and,  as  a  consequence,  in  their  results.  Hence,  the  end 
of  his  great  hopes  and  wonderful  expectations  is  a  sad  and  unprofita- 
ble failure. 

We  cross-breed  too  much,  and  do  not  sufficiently  study  the  ques- 
tion of  harmony  in  the  physical  and  nerve  traits  that  we  combine  in 
o\ir  efforts  to  produce  the  trotter.  That  one  conformation  or  one 
mental  organism  may  be  modified  by  combining  with  it  another  of 
dissimilar  elements,  is  most  certainly  true;  and  this  can  often  be  done 
with  the  best  of  results — but  it  can  only  be  done  by  a  union  of  ele- 
ments that  will,  when  united,  or  while  uniting,  tend  or  work  in  the 
direction  of  harmony  toward  a  point  that  contains  the  conditions  of 
successful  operation.  By  this  method,  a  defective  jDhysical  conforma- 
tion may  be  relieved,  and  in  great  part  cured;  and  a  disturbed,  or 
deficient,  or  illy  balanced  temperament  or  nerve  organism  may  be 
quieted  or  stimulated  to  the  point  or  degree  called  for  in  the  level- 
headed and  strong-willed  trotting  champion. 

In  some  families,  the  anatomical  or  muscular  conformation  may  be 
defective  or  deficient;  the  front  cannon-bones  may  be  too  short  or  too 
long — the  same  may  be  the  case  with  the  forearm,  or  the  thigh,  or  the 
length  of  sweep  from  hip  to  hock.  There  are  families  which  possess 
deficiencies  or  excesses  in  each  of  these  particulars;  all  of  which  can, 
to  a  great  degree,  and  perhaps  to  the  degree  requisite  for  complete 
success,  be  corrected  by  judicious  selections  and  crossing;  but  the  first 
condition  essential  to  such  a  process,  is  a  knowledge  of  the  exact  state 
of  the  defect  which  it  is  necessary  to  correct.  This  involves  the  study 
and  knowledge  of  diverse  physical  and  mental  proportions  and  confor- 
mation; a  matter  which  is  so  exceedingly  novel,  almost  incompre- 


.  I 


38  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

hensible  and  passing  strange  to  some  of  our  very  learned  ones,  who 
have  for  a  long  time  taught  us  horse  lore,  that  the  bare  proposition  to 
ascertain  by  actual  measure  and  comparison  the  relative  proportions 
of  different  animals  is  received  as  something  that  should  stao-o-er  and 
disturb  the  equilibrium  of  these  staid  and  deeply  philosophical  minds. 
The  real  fact  is,  that  there  is  nothing  so  dishonest  as  sheer  ignorance, 
and  nothing  so  willfully  ignorant  as  downright  dishonesty. 

I  can,  in  this  connection,  appeal  to  the  well-known  fact  that  our 
great  trotters  or  trotting  sires  do  not,  as  a  general  rule,  come  from 
the  long  and  brilliantly  drawn  out  pedigrees.  Take  the  stallions  from 
some  distinguished  sire,  and  from  dams  whose  pedigrees  are  six  to 
eight  generations  deep — every  link  bringing  out  the  name  of  some 
distinguished  family  or  animal — and  these  are  generally  failures.  But 
Hambletonian,  from  the  mare  by  Patriot,  has  produced  the  first  trot- 
ting sire  of  America;  and  from  the  mare  by  Bay  Roman  he  produced 
the  renowned  sire  of  Goldsmith  Maid,  Almont  and  Thorn  dale;  from 
Princess  he  produced  Happy  Medium;  froni  Sally  Feagles  he  pro- 
duced Peacemaker.  Amazonia  prodviced  Abdallah;  and  the  dams  of 
Blackwood,  Thomas  Jeffea-son,  Smuggler,  Dexter,  Startle,  Mambrino 
Chief,  Lady  Thorn,  Ericsson,  Clark  Chief,  and  the  most  of  our  great 
trotters  and  trotting  stallions,  were  short-pedigree  mares;  Avhile,  as 
before  stated,  the  long-pedigreed  stallions  have  not  generally  been 
very  successful — almost  proving  that  one  good  mare  is  better  than 
half  a  dozen,  and  most  clearly  showing  that  one  good  mare  is  more 
reliable  than  a  long  pedigree,  and  of  far  more  \^lue.  And  in  this 
connection,  let  me  ask  the  question,  why  is  it  that  so  many  of  our 
short-pedigreed  and  part-bred  mares  that  have  no  trotting  crosses 
whatever,  have  been  so  noted  as  the  dams  of  great  trotters  from  this 
and  that  particular  sire?     • 

Why  is  it  that  so  many  trotting  stallions  of  strong  and  positive  trot- 
ting qviality  have  succeeded  so  well  as  sires  with  fair  road  mares  not 
noted  for  great  trotting  qualities,  and  generally  coming  from  one  or 
tAvo  thoroughbred  crosses — such,  for  example,  as  the  dams  of  Lady 
Thorn,  Lula,  May  Queen,  Music,  Lady  Stout,  Lucy,  Pilot  Jr.,  John 
Morgan,  Jenny,  "Woodford  Mambrino,  Brignoli,  Jim  Porter,  Molsey, 
Great  Eastern,  Grafton,  and  many  other  superior  trotters?  To  the 
inind  of  the  intelligent  breeder  the  answer  is  very  obvious.  These 
mares  had  the  blood,  the  •  stamina,  the  highly  organized  nervous  tem- 
perament, to  give  the  trotter  high  quality  in  all  these  respects;  and  at 
the  same  time  they  carried  in  themselves  no  positive,  deeply -bred  and 


CROSS-BREEDING.  39 

immovable  trottiiiii-  tendencies  or  inclinations  of  their  own  to  conflict 
with,  combat,  or  stand  in  the  way  of  those  of  the  trotting  stallions 
Avith  which  they  are  crossed.  Hence,  the  stallion  had  his  own  way  in 
this  matter  of  gait  and  other  ti'otting  elements.  Hence,  Lady  Thorn, 
"Woodford  Mambrino  and  Brignoli  were  Mambrinos;  Lucy  was  a 
Patchen;  Lady  Stout  is  gaited  like  all  the  produce  of  her  sire;  Erics- 
son and  Clark  Chief  differ  from  all  the  other  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief, 
for  the  reason  that  Mrs.  Caudle  and  her  daughter,  while  good  mares  to 
cross  with  the  Chief,  yet  had  trotting  blood  and  ways  of  their  own 
that  they  refused  to  yield  to  him.  Hence,  these  two  families  have 
their  o^wai  t^-pe.  But  it  does  not  absolutely  follow  that  long  and  rich 
pedigrees  may  not  be  found  in  the  dams  of  our  best  trotters  and  trot- 
ting stallions,  provided  the  breeder  will  carefully  study  the  character- 
istics, both  mental  and  physical,  that  enter  into  his  chosen  combination. 
Unless  this  is  done — and  in  most  instances  it  is  not — the  result  will  be 
failure. 

Violent  or  remote  crosses  must  be  avoided,  for  the  very  reason  that 
thev  will  brina:  toa'ether  elements  both  of  i^livsical  conformation  and 
nervous  organism  that  will  not  harmonize,  but  will  ojDerate  against  and 
neutralize  each  other. 

The  question,  how  shall  we  cross-breed  so  as  to  prevent  our  stock 
from  degenerating,  and  at  the  same  time  bring  no  disturbance  of  the 
liarmony  of  the  physical  and  nervous  organism  of  our  trotting  stock, 
is  of  great  importance,  and  one  which  calls  for  the  exercise  of  the 
greatest  circumspection  and  intelligent  discrimination. 

The  following  brief  extract  from  a  lecture  by  an  eminent  divine  of 
our  own  country,  affords  a  text  that  has  some  force  and  may  be  studied 
to  advantage  by  the  breeder  of  our  trotting  horse: 

The  marriage  of  highly-gifted  persons  of  different  lines  of  descent,  is  a 
method  of  improving  the  upper,  but  only  the  upper,  that  is,  the  most  intel- 
lectual and  virtuous,  portion  of  the  human  family. 

This  being  applied  to  the  subject  under  review  means  plainly,  that 
in  making  our  selections  for  breeding  purposes  with  a  view  to  freshen- 
ing up  or  re-invigorating  the  blood  of^our  animals,  we  should  at  no 
time  descend  to  a  low  or  ill-bred  cross.  While  all  foreign  and  very 
remote  or  dissimilar  crosses  should  be  avoided,  we  should  in  making 
our  selections,  at  all  times  look  to  the  elevation  of  our  strains  of  blood, 
and  have  a  jealous  eye  against  anything  that  could  debase  or  lower  our 
standards.  We  have  done  that  in  the  past,  in  the  infancy  of  our 
trotting  breeds  in  some  of  the  Canadian  elements  of  blood  that  were 


40  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

far  too  cold  and  uncongenial,  but  from  their  intermixture  with  our 
other  lines  of  blood,  although  not  up  to  the  highest  standard  of  excel- 
lence, they  are  now  far  preferable  as  a  resort  to  any  new  impor- 
tations or  other  low-bred  or  distant  removes  from  our  American 
standard.  In  our  Abdallahs,  Hambletonians,  Champions,  Clays,  or 
Bashaws,  and  Mambrinos,  as  at  present  crossed  with  the  Pilots, 
St.  Lawrences,  ]\Iorgans,  Pacers,  and  other  stock  as  bred  and  inter- 
mingled for  the  past  fifty  years,  we  have  an  abundant  range  for 
selection  Avithout  ever  introducing  a  single  new  or  foreign  or  low-bred 
element  into  our  trotting  families.  With  sufficient  care  and  discrimi- 
nation we  can  and  should  render  our  trotting  stock  more  and  more 
homogeneous  and  uniform  in  their  style  and  standard  of  excellence 
each  year,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  them  in  range  far  enough 
removed  as  to  avoid  the  ill  effect  of  too  close  in-breeding.  It  must, 
however,  be  clearly  stated  in  this  connection,  that  the  one  great  dan- 
ger from  violent  outcrossing  in  our  breed  of  trotting  horses,  is  in  the 
discordant  or  conflicting  elements  of  gait  and  temperament  that  may 
be  thereby  introduced.  Outcrossing,  if  not  Avith  low  or  ill-bred  stock, 
often  seems  to  add  greatly  to  the  physical  and  nervous  development  of 
a  family,  in  all  that  pertains  to  size,  vigor  and  health,  and  in  many 
cases  the  greatest  and  most  valuable  results  have  accrued  from  such 
unions. 

The  present  elements  of  Pilot  blood  in  our  trotting  horse — a  very 
valuable  element  indeed — have  come  to  us  as  the  result  of  a  very 
violent  cross,  but  one  that  fused  well  and  became  thoroughly  assimi- 
lated, and  as  such  forms  a  union  with  almost  any  blood  vnth  which  it 
unites,  in  the  same  harmony  which  it  displayed  in  the  first  union. 

Mr.  Darwin,  the  eminent  English  naturalist,  on  the  general  subject 
of  cross-breeding,  uses  the  following  language: 

The  crossing  of  distinct  forms,  whether  closely  or  distantly  allied,  gives 
increased  size  and  constitutional  vigor,  and,  except  in  the  case  of  crossed  spe- 
cies, increased  fertility,  to  the  offspring.  The  evidence  rests  on  the  universal 
testimony  of  breeders  (for  it  should  be  observed  that  I  am  not  here  speaking 
of  the  evil  results  of  close  interbreeding),  and  is  practically  exemplified  in  the 
higher  value  of  cross-bred  animals  for  immediate  consumption.  The  good 
results  of  crossing  have  also  been  demonstrated,  in  the  case  of  some  animals 
and  of  numerous  plants,  by  actual  weight  and  measurement.  Although  ani- 
mals of  pure  blood  will  obviously  be  deteriorated  by  crossing,  so  far  as  their 
characteristic  qualities  are  concerned,  there  seems  to  be  no  exception  to  the 
rule,  that  advantages  of  tha  kind  just  mentioned  are  thus  gained,  even  when 
there  has  not  been  any  previous  close  interbreeding.  The  rule  applies  to  all 
animals,  even  to  cattle  and  sheep,  which  can  long  resist  breeding  in-and-in 


IN-BREEDING.  41 

betwreen  the  nearest  blood  relations.  It  applies  to  individuals  of  the  same  Sub- 
variety  but  of  distinct  families,  to  varieties  or  races,  to  sub-species,  as  well  as 
to  quite  distinct  species. 

In  this  latter  case,  however,  whilst  size,  vigor,  precocity  and  hardiness  are, 
with  rare  exceptions,  gained,  fertility,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  is  lost ;  but 
the  gain  can  not  be  exclusively  attributed  to  the  principle  of  compensation; 
for  there  is  no  close  parallelism  between  the  increased  size  and  vigor  of  the 
offspring  and  their  sterility.  Moreover  it  has  been  clearly  proved  that  mon- 
grels which  are  perfectly  fertile  gain  these  same  advantages  as  well  as  sterile 
hybrids. 

I>"-BREEDING. 

In  close  relation  to  the  subject  last  under  consideration  is  that  of 
In-Breedino; — with  reference  to  its  advantao:es  and  the  dang-ers  that 
attend  it  or  result  from  its  pursuit.  Much  is  written  and  said  on  this 
STibject,  and  every  amateur  is  ready  to  propound  his  maxim  as  the 
embodiment  of  all  the  current  philosophy  relating  to  that  branch  of 
breeding  science.  Two  general  truths  are  known  to  exist  touching 
this  question;  first,  that  in -breeding  seems  to  secure  and  fix  the  good 
or  desirable  qualities  in  a  given  breed  or  class  of  animals,  and  second, 
that  in-breeding  too  closely  causes  degeneracy,  and  results  in  deterio- 
ration and  loss  of  quality;  that  this  latter,  if  persisted  in,  is  far-reach- 
ing and  almost  unlimited  in  the  extent  of  the  injury  which  it  will 
achieve. 

To  those  who  speak  from  actual  knowledge  of  the  subject  derived 
from  experience  and  a  study  of  the  department  in  which  they  are 
engaged,  it  is  not  an  easy  question  in  all  cases  to  determine  how  in- 
breeding shall  be  conducted  in  order  that  the  best  and  most  permanent 
advantages  may  be  gained  in  the  way  of  infixing  or  so  stamping  the 
qualities  desired  as  to  make  them  permanent  and  hereditarily  trans- 
missible in  high  degree,  without,  at  the  same  time,  in  any  way  impair- 
ing the  vigor  and  higher  quality  of  the  nervous  organism  or  the 
physical  stamina  of  the  animal  or  family. 

The  blood  of  animals  seems  like  the  air  we  breathe — the  very  use 
of  it  contaminates  it,  and  it  requires  new  elements  to  restore  the 
purity  and  force  which  each  successive  draught  absorbs  from  the 
source  of  supply.  Consanguinity  is  the  hotbed  in  which  all  the  blood 
impurities  of  a  race  are  brought  to  early  maturity. 

Mr.  Darwin  has  written  a  letter  to  the  English  Agricultural  Gazette-, 
from  which  I  extract  the  following: 

Sexual  reproduction  is  so  essentially  the  same  in  plants  and  animals,  that  I 
think  we  may  fairly  apply  conclusions  drawn  from  the  one  kingdom  to  the  other. 


42  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

From  a  long  series  of  experiments  on  plants,  given  in  my  book  On  Vie  Effects 
of  Gross  and  Self- Fertilization,  the  conclusion  seems  clear  that  there  is  no 
mysterious  evil  in  the  mere  fact  of  the  nearest  relations  breeding  together; 
but  that  evil  follows  (independently  of  inherited  disease  or  weakness)  from 
the  circumstance  of  near  relations  generally  possessing  a  closely  similar  con- 
stitution. However  little  we  may  be  able  to  explain  the  cause,  the  facts  detailed 
by  me  show  that  the  male  and  female  sexual  elements  must  be  dilTercntiated 
to  a  certain  degree,  in  order  to  unite  properly,  and  to  give  birth  to  a  vigorous 
progeny.  Such  differentiation  of  the  sexual  elements  follows  from  the  parents 
and  their  ancestors  having  lived  some  generations  imder  different  conditions 
of  life. 

The  closest  interbreeding  does  not  seem  to  Induce  variability  or  a  departure 
from  the  typical  form, of  the  race  or  family,  but  it  causes  loss  of  size,  of  con- 
stitutional vigor  in  resisting  unfavorable  influences,  and  often  of  fertility.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  cross  between  plants  of  the  same  sub-variety,  which  have 
been  grown  during  some  generations  under  different  conditions,  increases  to 
an  extraordinary  degree  the  size  and  vigor  of  the  offspring. 

Some  kinds  of  plants  bear  self-fertilization  much  better  than  others  ;  never- 
theless it  has  been  proved  that  these  profit  greatly  by  a  cross  with  a  fresh  stock. 
So  it  appears  to  be  with  animals,  for  Short-horn  cattle — perhaps  all  cattle — 
■can  withstand  close  interbreeding  with  very  little  injury  ;  but  if  they  could 
be  crossed  with  a  distinct  stock  without  any  loss  of  their  excellent  qualities, 
it  would  be  a  most  surprising  fact  if  the  oftspring  did  not  also  profit  in  a  very 
high  degree  in  constitutional  vigor.  If,  therefore,  any  one  chose  to  risk 
breeding  from  an  animal  which  suflered  from  some  inheritable  disease  or 
weakness,  he  would  act  wisely  to  look  out,  not  merely  for  a  perfectly  sound 
animal  of  the  other  sex,  but  for  one  belonging  to  another  strain,  which  had 
been  bred  during  several  generations  at  a  distant  place,  under  as  different  con- 
ditions as  to  soil,  climate,  etc.,  as  possible,  for  in  this  case  he  might  hope  that 
the  offspring,  by  having  gained  in  constitutional  vigor,  would  be  enabled  to 
throw  oft'  the  taint  in  their  blood. 

As  it  seems  to  be  a  law  of  nature,  and  particularly  of  animal 
existence,  that  every  organism  carries  within  itself  the  seeds  of 
decay— the  elements  of  decline — so  the  law  of  heredity  looks  con- 
stantly in  the  direction  of  concentrating  infirmity  and  hastening 
dissolution.  To  counteract  this,  is  part  of  the  province  of  drawing 
fresh  supplies  in  the  way  of  outcrossing,  and  the  process  of  breeding 
in  this  regard  is  a  revival  of  the  contest  between  the  two  forces  of 
conservatism  and  progression.  But  this  same  conservatism  in  nature 
and  in  animal  existence  is  a  law  of  decline,  and  can  only  be  success- 
fully combated  by  a  resort  to  the  other,  or  laAV  of  progressive  re- 
enforcement.  And  the  grand  plane  of  successful  breeding  is  reached 
when  the  breeder  shall  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  processes 
l)oth  re-enforce  the   constitutional   vigor  and  nervous  energy  of  his 


IN-BREEDING.  43 

stock  and  concentrate  or  intensify  the  peculiar  excellences  or  qualities 
which  give  the  chief  value  to  his  breed  or  families  of  animals  sought 
to  be  produced.  By  such  a  process,  improvements  are  real  and 
substantial,  and  a  gain  of  one  quality  is  not  a  loss  of  another. 
■  It  is' irrational  and  unphilosophical  to  say  that  we  can  in-breed  to 
the  extent  of  a  certain  number  of  crosses  and  then  must  outcross 
a  certain  and  fixed  number  by  way  of  counteracting  the  injurious 
effect  of  the  first  attempt.  It  is  as  unwise  to  say  twice  in  and  once 
out,  as  once  in  and  twice  out. 

It  is  best  to  follow  the  true  maxim,  that  each  return  to  the  same 
blood  is  deleterious  and  to  be  avoided,  if  the  same  good  qualities 
can  be  secured  by  a  union  with  a  blood  that  is  similar  in  the  good 
qualities  sought  and  free  from  the  taint  or  imperfection  that  must 
exist  in  the  source  last  di-awn  from. 

The  converse  of  the  maxim  is  also  as  safe,  and  may  be  expressed 
thus, — that  it  is  a  positive  loss  to  go  away  or  depart  from  the  good 
qualities  sought  or  desired,  and  thus  to  weaken  and  impair  their  force, 
if  such  departure  is  not  rendered  necessary  by  the  impurity  of  the 
source  from  whence  your  supply  has  been  drawn,  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  create  more  loss  in  health  and  vigor  by  again  drawing  therefrom, 
than  by  the  introduction  of  new  supplies  elsewhere  found.  Hence,  it 
is  always  safe  and  desirable  to  draw  new  supplies  from  such  source,  if 
the  same  can  be  found,  as  will  both  re-enforce  the  bodilv  or  nervous 
Angor  or  health  of  the  animal,  and  at  the  same  time  reinvigorate  or 
add  to  the  accumulated  force  of  the  given  qualities  sought  to  be  per- 
petuated and  intensified. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  practical  application  of  these  principles 
to  the  breeding  of  our  trotting  horses,  I  insert  here  a  slip  taken  from 
the  same  lecture  of  an  eminent  divine  before  adverted  to,  as  fol- 
lows: 

The  intermarriage  of  highly  gifted  relatives  tends  to  diminish  rather  tUan 
to  increase  the  ability  of  the  race. 

Neibuhr  says  that  aristocracies,  when  obliged  to  recruit  their  numbers 
among  themselves,  fall  into  decay,  and  often  into  insanity,  dementia  and 
imbecility.  Who  does  not  know  that  this  truth  might  be  illustrated  by  vast 
ranges  of  historical  knowledge,  were  there  time  here  for  the  presentation  of 
details  ?  The  Lagidaj  and  Seleucidte  for  ten  hundred  years  intermarried,  and 
through  nine  htmdred  years  were  in  a  process  of  mysterious  decay.  "Who 
cloes  not  know  that  it  was  the  feeling  of  Many  of  our  revolutionary  fatliers 
that  half  the  thrones  of  Europe  were  filled  by  persons  more  or  less  erratic  on 
«,ccount  of  descending  from  relatives  ?    It  was  one  of  the  propositions  of  Jef- 


44  THE   BREEDING   PROBLEM. 

ferson,  often  talked  about  in  private,  that  the  thrones  of  Europe  were  filled 
with  imbeciles,  the  results  of  consanguineous  marriages.  I'he  rule  of  the 
Church  of  England  to-day  on  this  topic  is  more  strict  than  has  been  that  of 
some  decayed  royal  houses. 

It  is  within  the  observation  of  every  breeder  that  his  stock  deterio- 
rates in  quality  with  great  rapidity  if  he  breeds  from  inferior  animals- 
or  those  low  in  point  of  quality. 

Selections,  to  maintain  standards  of  excellence,  must  at  all  times  be 
from  the  best.  But  even  with  this  precaution,  respect  must  also  be 
had  to  the  degree  of  consanguinity  that  exists  between  the  animals 
interbred.  It  is  known  that  some  classes  of  animals  retrograde  from 
in-breeding  more  rapidly  than  others — as,  for  example,  the  Dorking 
fowls,  most  likely  from  the  fact  that  not  a  large  number  of  them  exist,, 
and  they  have  been  bred  a  long  time,  and  hence  they  are  of  neces- 
sity more  closely  related  than  if  they  had  only  recently  been  origi- 
nated from  diverse  materials. 

The  high  or  low  quality  of  the  stock  bred  from  also  affects  the 
question,  as  in  low-bred  stock  the  impurities  of  blood  form  so  large  a. 
ratio  of  the  whole  that  a  very  short  period  of  interbreeding  suffices  to 
indelibly  fix  the  marks  of  decay,  while  superiority  of  blood,  or  that 
which  possesses  in  itself  great  vigor  and  healthfulness,  enables  a  stock 
to  endure  much  and  close  in-breeding  before  the  evidences  of  decline 
are  apparent.  It  is  well  understood  that  in-breeding  to  a  close  degree 
has  been  practiced  among  the  breeders  of  Short-horns  in  this  country 
and  in  England — the  result  of  which  has  been  to  estabHsh  a  standard 
of  great  excellence  as  to  certain  valuable  points,  but  at  the  expense 
of  a  sacrifice  of  the  constitutional  vigor  of  the  race.  It  is  well  known 
that  barrenness,  both  in  males  and  females,  has  become  so  common  as- 
to  amount  almost  to  a  characteristic;  they  are  no  longer  a  family 
remarkable  for  longevity,  or  the  size  of  the  carcass,  that  once  distin- 
guished members  of  the  family  not  bred  up  to  the  most  fashionable 
standards. 

Our  thoroughbred  horses  are  all  bred  from  the  original  blood  of 
the  desert,  but  having  a  large  number  of  animals  to  breed  from,  a 
large  range  of  families  not  closely  akin,  and  all  of  a  high  standard  of 
blood,  the  skillful  breeders  of  England  and  America  have  been  able 
to  improve  the  standards  of  excellence  so  far  that  the  race-horse  has 
grown  from  an  animal  fourteen  and  a  half  hands  high  to  one  sixteen 
and  a  half  hands,  and  of  great  power  and  perfection.  Probably  no 
family  of  animals  ever  produced  surj^assed  in  blood  purity  and  inherent 


IN-BEEEDING.  45 

constitutional  viffor  the  horses  which  are  the  immediate  descendants 
of  Imported  Messenger — yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  in 
some  instances,  close  in-breeding  has  reduced  the  size  and  impaired 
the  nerve  force  and  other  high  qualities  for  whith  that  blood  was  so 
eminent.  It  had  in  itself  so  much  vitality,  so  much  inherent  purity 
and  excellence,  that  it  could  infuse  vigor  and  advancement  into  any 
cross  with  which  it  came  in  contact,  and  could  also  counteract  the 
impurities  of  other  bloods,  and  resist  decay  longer  than  almost  any 
other  strains  ever  known  to  the  American  breeder;  nevertheless  it  is 
apparent  that  instances  are  within  our  sight  which  clearly  demonstrate 
that  even  this  magical  blood  has  been  too  closely  interbred  in  parts  of 
this  country. 

Hambletonian  was  one  of  the  best  bred  horses  we  have  ever  seen; 
he  was  an  in-bred  horse — but  not  too  closely  in-bred,  in  view  of  the 
quality  of  the  Messenger  blood.  His  dam  was  an  outcross,  but  his 
granddam  was  in-bred,  and  his  sire  was  in-bred,  being  undoubtedly, 
to  my  mind,  a  grandson  of  Messenger,  with  three  or  more  crosses  of  the 
blood  of  that  horse.  But  the  elfect  of  an  outcross  of  great  vigor  in 
his  dam,  a  daughter  of  Imported  Bellfounder,  gave  him  a  strong  cast 
of  that  blood,  and  made  of  him  a  horse  of  great  quality,  substance  and 
power,  and  having  at  the  same  time  so  much  in-breeding  in  the  blood 
of  Messenger,  it  gave  him  great  force  as  a  sire.  But  while  he  was  not 
too  closely  in-bred  himself,  it  is  clear  that  his  produce  from  any  mare 
by  Abdallah  or  any  other  equally  strong  in  the  blood  of  Messenger, 
would  be  too  closely  in-bred,  and  the  diminished  size  and  other  qual- 
ities would  show  the  want  of  an  intermediate  outcross.  His  Bellfounder 
cross  gave  him  a  thigh  24  inches  in  length,  and  a  length  from  hip  to 
hock  of  41  inches,  but  th3  uniformity  with  which  he  bred  back  to  the 
smaller  standard  of  23  and  39,  showed  the  mastery  of  the  strong  cur- 
rents of  Messenger  blood. 

His  best  produce  were  those  not  positively  strong  or  near  in  either 
Messenger  or  Bellfounder  blood,  although  none  equaled  those  of  that 
blood  when  it  was  also  crossed  with  other  bloods,  so  far  as  to  main- 
tain its  vigor  and  counteract  the  inevitable  tendency  toward  decline. 
The  blood  of  Trustee,  Henry,  Duroc,  and  many  unknown  crosses 
combined  with  that  of  Messenger,  formed  the  fields  in  which  he 
excelled  in  the  highest  degree.  It  is  often  said  he  excelled  in  Messen- 
ger blood,  and  certainly  his  best  efforts  were  not  outside  of  that  blood, 
but  it  was  so  far  in  combination  with  other  even  unknown  bloods,  that 
it  was  beyond  the  boundary  of  close  interbreeding.     That  the  great 


46  THE  BREEDINC^  PROBLEM. 

popularity  of  his  family,  and  particularly  of  the  blood  of  Abdallah, 
has  caused  much  objectionable  interbreeding  of  recent  years,  is 
unquestionable.  I  think  no  half  brothers  or  sisters  should  in  any 
case  be  interbred — no  dauohter  of  Hambletonian  with  a  son  of  that 
horse — while  one  remove  further  may  be  regarded  as  far  enough  and  be 
looked  to  for  valuable  results.  Messenger  Duroc  and  Elniokerbocker 
were  from  granddaughters  of  Abdallah,  and  Florida  was  from  a 
daughter  of  Volunteer,  all  large  and  valuable  stallions,  wliile  Kling 
Philip,  by  Jay  Gould,  from  a  daughter  of  Hambletonion,  showed 
speed  and  a  concentration  of  the  trotting  quality  as  might  be  expected 
up  to  a  certain  degree,  but  in  being  far  smaller  than  either  of  his 
parents,  he  bore  testimony  to  the  correctness  of  the  principles  here 
maintained. 

I  bought  in  New  York  a  most  promising  colt  by  Florida,  first  dam 
by  Volunteer,  second  dam  by  Daniel  Webster,  son  of  Long  Island 
Blackhawk,  third  dam  by  Abdallah.  He  was  a  very  beautiful  colt  and 
exhibited  great  excellence  in  temper  and  trotting  quality,  but  that  he 
was  too  closely  in-bred  both  to  Volunteer  and  Abdallah  was  apparent. 
His  sire  and  dam  were  both  of  great  substance  and  strong  in  bone 
and  joint.  His  bone  was  far  too  light  and  his  joints  were  not  satisfac- 
tory. He  died  from  typhoid  fever;  and  his  full  sister,  lacking  in  the 
vigor  and  perfection  of  either  her  sire  or  dam,  is  also  dead,  before 
either  reached  the  age  of  three  years.  Although  fine  in  every  point 
of  good  breeding,  they  each  manifested  a  delicacy  of  constitution  not 
exhibited  by  either  sire  or  dam. 

A  stallion  too  closely  in-bred  may  be  a  valuable  breeder,  and  may 
show  great  vital  energy  and  be  successful  in  his  outcrosses,  but  it  will 
affect  his  own  size,  and  perhaps  many  other  qualities,  when  the  influ- 
ences of  such  in-breeding  are  not  so  perceptible.  Lakeland  Abdallah 
and  Harold  are  both  good  breeding  stallions  and  their  outcrosses  are 
often  large,  although  their  own  lack  of  size  bears  evidence  to  the  truth 
that  they  were  too  closely  in-bred. 

An  incident  recently  came  before  me,  which  forcibly  illustrates  what 
I  have  frequently  seen,  and  which  is  valuable  as  conveying  its  own 
lesson.  A  paper  was  shown  me  containing  the  alleged  pedigree  and 
produce  of  a  mare  called  Miss  Elliott,  bred  in  the  State  of  Iowa.  She 
was  granddaughter  of  the  mare  known  as  the  Elliott  mare,  dam  of 
Tramp,  that  wa,s  alleged  to  be  by  Abdallah,  but  the  fact  has  been 
disputed.  The  pedigree  was  exhibited  as  showing  many  crosses  of 
Messenger  blood,  which  would  be  the  case  if  the  Elliott  mare  was  by 


IN-BREEDING".  47 

Abdallah,  but  the  lesson  in  regard  to  in-breeding  was  the  same,  as 
the  mare  was  closely  in-bred  to  the  Elliott  mare,  whatever  she  was. 
This  Elliott  mare  from  Greene's  Bashaw  as  the  sire,  produced  a  stal- 
lion named  Peacock.  From  Gage's  Logan  she  produced  the  stallion 
Tramp,  and  a  filly,  full  sister.  This  sister  of  Tramp  was  bred  to  the 
son  of  Bashaw  and  produced  Miss  Elliott.  Hence  she  was  by  the 
half  brother  of  her  own  dam,  and  the  Elliott  mare  was  granddam  on 
both  sides.  Miss  Elliott,  this  in-bred  mare,  was  then  bred  for  two 
seasons  to  Tramp,  the  full  brother  of  her  own  dam,  and  the  record  for 
each  year's  foal  was,  "f^eae?."  A  proper  record  and  fit  commentary 
upon  the  intelligence  displayed  in  such  breeding. 

Several  close  crosses  of  Hambletonian  blood  will  be  fashionable  in  a 
pedigree  for  the  present  and  near  future — but  I  want  not  more  than 
two  until  I  have  a  proper  outcross,  of  course  not  a  violent  or  abso- 
lutely foreign  outcross,  but  one  that  possesses  some  new  elements 
to  relieve  the  drain  upon  the  pure  currents  of  the  old  blood.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  this  matter  in  our  country  as  our  families  now  stand. 
We  have  so  many  kindred  strains  whose  affinity  is  far  enough  away 
to  afford  relief  for  each  other  that  we  have  no  need  of  close  inter- 
breeding nc«"  of  any  resort  to  foreign  or  violent  outcrosses.  Our  breed- 
ing may  remain  entirely  homogeneous,  and  wholly  maintain  its  vigor, 
even  increased  and  improved,  as  we  have  done  in  the  thoroughbred.  But 
l^is  will  only  be  attained  by  an  adherence  to  sound  principles  and  a 
due  observance  of  the  laws  of  outcrossing  and  interbreeding. 

I  am  aware  that  of  recent  years  many  have  advocated  close  in-breed- 
ing, especially  in  the  blood  of  Abdallah,  and  have  pointed  to  Gold- 
smith Maid,  Messenger  Duroc,  and  some  others,  as  illustrations,  but 
the  breeders  have  not  stopped  with  the  degree  of  in-breeding  exhibited 
in  these  animals.  These  were  not  close  in  the  sense  in  which  I  here 
speak  of  it.  Hambletonian  has  received  many  Abdallah  mares,  and 
Messenger  Duroc  and  other  sons  of  Hambletonian  have  received 
daughters  of  Hambletonian,  but  no  really  great  horse  has  descended 
from  any  such  incestuous  breeding. 

Good  results,  both  in  performers  and  reproducers  have  attended 
the  crossing  of  the  same  lines  of  blood  when  something  intermediate 
in  each  case  has  intervened,  but  no  really  incestuous  crosses  have  re- 
sulted in  the  production  of  great  or  valuable  animals.  The  blood  of 
Alexander's  Abdallah  has  been  thus  crossed  more  perhaps  than  any 
other,  but  in  no  case  did  it  result  in  the  equal  of  Thorn  dale  or 
Almont  or  Goldsmith  Maid. 


48  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

The  practice  of  close  in-breeding  that  has  prevailed  among  Short- 
horn breeders  will  not  successfully  apply  to  horses.  Our  blood  horses 
have  too  many  elements  from  the  same  Arab  stock,  and  the  tendency 
is  strongly  toward  their  standard. 

This  is  clearly  shown  in  our  attempts  to  cross  our  Messenger  trot- 
ting blood  on  our  Diomed  and  other  thoroughbred  strains.  The}'' 
lose  the  trotting  gait  instead  of  concentrating  and  strengthening 
trotting  inclination.  Hence,  exjDcrience  shows  that  we  must  constantly 
re-enforce  the  trotting  elements,  in-breeding  in  these  families  making  it 
necessary.  So  will  close  in-breeding  in  the  Messenger  famih^,  by  reason 
of  the  large  element  of  Arab  blood  in  that  strain,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  course  of  the  chapter  devoted  to  that  family. 

In  the  course  of  Chapter  V,  attention  will  he  called  to  the  fact 
that  outcrosses  have  alreadv  advanced  the  success  of  the  Messeno-er 
blood,  and  still  further  advancement  may  be  within  reach,  as  still 
further  need  of  outcrossing  niay  be  found  to  exist. 

Our  practice  in  regard  to  in-breeding  must  be  controlled  by  the 
peculiarities — the  demands,  deficiencies  and  excesses  in  quality  of  the 
stock  in  Avhich  we  are  dealing.  In  our  American  roadster  Messenger 
blood  forms  so  large  an  element  that  we  must  study  its  composition 
and  traits,  and  this  will  reveal  to  us  the  fact  that  they  are  "of  a  two- 
fold nature — both  contradictory.  The  one  derived  from  long  in-breed- 
ing in  the  blood  of  the  desert,  inclining  the  horse  to  gallojD  rather 
than  to  trot,  and  that  this  is  really  a  more  powerful  inclination  than 
that  which  would  lead  him  to  trot,  and  that  in-breeding  in  that  blood 
directly,  without  the  introduction  of  other  elements,  has  the  effect  to 
diminish  the  trotting  impulses.  While  in-breeding  in  the  same  blood 
after  the  interposition  of  other  elements  which  operate  to  disturb 
this  tendency  to  go  back  to  the  Arab  or  thoroughbred  instinct,  tends 
to  strengthen  and  bring  out  in  new  force  and  vigor  the  trotting 
qualities  of  the  Messenger  blood.  In-breeding  in  the  Hambletonian 
family  has  the  effect  to  strengthen  the  Bellfounder  element,  which  at 
first  was  struggling  against  odds,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  chapter  on 
Hambletonian. 

If  I  am  asked  to  indicate  the  kind  of  outcrosses  for  the  Hanible- 
tonian  mares — and  by  these  I  mean  the  daughters  or  granddaughters 
— I  would  say  that  I  should  seek  such  a  cross  as  would  tend  to  coun- 
teract the  effect  of  the  Messenger  blood  as  displayed  in  that  tendency 
in  the  Hambletonians  toward  the  short  measure  from  hip  to  hock — and 
at  the  same  time  avoid  a  cross  that  sets  the  hock  at  a  point  high  above 


» 


DEVELOPMENT  IN  BREEDING  STOCK.         49 

the  ground.  This  would  be  strengthening  the  Bellfounder  -without  a 
resort  to  the  sanie  blood.  The  Bellfounder  cross  was  the  true  one  in  its 
day  in  this  regard,  as  Bellfounder  had  a  low  hock,  and  a  long  measure 
from  hip  to  hock.  My  own  stallion.  Argonaut,  not  only  possesses  the 
physical  conformation  called  for,  but  he  also  embraces  the  blood  ele- 
ments in  the  proper  combination.  He  is  strong  in  Messenger  blood, 
coming  through  fresh  channels,  and  well  and  harmoniously  interbred 
Avith  crosses  of  Duroc,  Pilot,  St.  Lawrence  and  Sir  Archy — a  bold, 
open  and  natural  trotter,  as  was  Bellfounder,  with  a  powerful  muscu- 
lar organization,  great  strength  of  bone,  and  in  substance  after  the 
model  of  Hambletonian  himself.  I  mention  him  in  particular,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  calling  him  into  notice,  but  for  the  puqiose  of  illus- 
trating exactly  and  forcibly  the  qualities  to  be  sought  in  a  proper 
outcross  for  the  closely  bred  Messeno-ers  of  the  Hambletonian  family. 
Great  in  fame  as  that  family  have  already  grown,  their  renown  will 
yet  be  advanced  by  the  introduction  of  such  elements  as  those  above 
indicated,  and  the  future  eminence  of  the  American  trotter  will  be  a 
conclusive  testimonial  to  the  correctness  of  these  opinions. 

INFLUENCE    OF    DEVELOPMENT   IN   BREEDING    STOCK. 

Tliis  is  another  branch  of  the  subject  on  which  the  writers,  and 
more  particularly  those  who  have  never  owned  a  breeding  animal  or 
had  any  experience  whatever  in  the  breeding  of  stock,  have  much  to 
say. 

The  contributions  on  this  point  have  mainly  been  confined  to  the 
horse  department — as  there  seems  to  be  a  large  number  capable  of 
writing  on  that  animal,  who  can  say  little  of  any  other  dej^artment  of 
breeding  science.  But  after  all  that  has  been  said  or  written  on  the 
subject,  the  horse  himself  in  the  various  animals  that  have  been  bred, 
and  the  results  of  breedina:  in  the  breedina;  establishments  of  this 
country,  furnish  more  real  instruction  than  all  the  amateur  wi-iters  in 
the  land.  The  horse  as  at  present  bred,  as  I  have  shown,  is  a  coin- 
pound  animal,  the  result  of  acquired  and  inherited  qualities.  It  is 
also  clear  that  the  qualities  he  acquires  he  also  transmits,  provided  he 
retains  the  same,  and  they  thus  enter  into  and  become  a  fixed  part  of 
his  animal  character. 

These  acquired  traits,  as  they  come  from  the  exercise  of  certain 
functions,  so  they  depend  for  their  maintenance  upon  the  continuance 
of  such  exercise,  and  they  decline  in  force  by  disuse  and  idleness. 
4 


50  THE   BREEDING   PROBLEM. 

Hence,  when  an  animal  has  acquired,  from  long  and  constant  use,  the 
nerve  impulses  and  temperament  of  a  roadster,  full  of  intelligent 
appreciation  of  the  duties  and  displays  of  power  incident  to  such 
employment,  it  is  but  reasonable  that  such  qualities  would  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  offspring  of  such  animal,  produced  when  such  habits  of 
muscle  and  nerve  were  in  full  force  and  exercise,  and  that  the  force 
and  certainty  with  which  the  same  would  be  transmitted  would  in 
large  part  depend  on  the  vital  presence  and  force  of  such  impulses. 
Experience  and  observation  both  combine  to  teach  the  truth  of  these 
principles.  As  we  shall  see  further  along,  the  great  roadsters,  and  the 
great  trotters  also,  have  come  from  parents  that  had  been  similarly 
employed,  and  had  a  development  that  gave  them  fixed  habits  of 
nerve  and  body — a  temperament  adapted  to  and  coming  from  the 
employment  to  which  they  had  been  devoted. 

It  is  important  to  note  the  fact  that,  while  we  recognize  the  blood 
of  Messenger  as  the  great  trotting  blood  of  our  country,  this  trotting 
quality  has  come  to  us  mainly,  if  not  altogether,  from  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Messenger  that  were  either  part  bred  or  kept  and  bred 
from  in  localities  where  the  horse  was  used  as  a  roadster;  and  that,  of 
his  thoroughbred  sons  and  daughters  used  for  racing  purposes,  for 
which  they  were  also  distinguished,  a  much  smaller  percentage  of 
trotting  qualities  has  been  disseminated.  This  will  be  referred  to 
more  fully  in  another  place. 

Carrying  out  the  supposed  teachings  of  experience  in  this  same  mat- 
ter, it  is  also  claimed  that  to  produce  great  trotters  with  certainty  and 
success,  the  parents  must  both  be  trained  and  developed  in  the  way 
that  our  great  trotters  are  trained,  and  that  as  a  sequence  of  this 
doctrine  such  animals  alone  can  be  relied  upon  for  the  highest  degree 
of  success  as  breeding  animals.  Whether  it  is  true  that  this  high, 
degree  of  development  in  sire  and  dam  is  beneficial  or  can  be  relied 
on  with  increased  confidence,  is  a  matter  of  uncertainty,  and  also 
one  of  some  difficulty  to  determine  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction. 
Whether  the  process  of  training  and  fitting  which  we  call  the  grand 
preparation  for  the  great  struggles  of  the  race-course,  do  tend  to  give 
the  nervous  and  physical  organism  the  same  degree  of  fixed  character 
and  constitute  such  traits  into  the  permanent  elements  of  the  animal 
nature  and  being  as  the  regular  and  constant  use  as  a  roadster  and 
fast  trotter  in  daily  road  work,  we  can  hardly  decide.  Theory  and 
practice  might  not  agree — the  doctrine  started  with,  may  not  corre- 
spond to  the  results  of  experience.     There  may  be  many  reasons  why 


DEVELOPMENT  IN  BREEDING  STOCK.         51 

a  fair  test  can  not  be  expected.  It  takes  so  many  years  to  develop 
the  trotters  and  bring  them  to  the  highest  degree  of  excellence  that 
before  they  are  ready  to  be  transfen-ed  from  the  department  of  per- 
formance to  that  of  reproduction,  their  age  unfits  them  for  the  greatest 
excellence  in  the  latter.  Thus  far  but  a  small  number  of  great  trot- 
ters have  produced  stallions  that  approach  the  front  rank.  Princess 
enjoyed  a  short  career  on  the  trotting  turf  after  several  years  use  as  a 
roadster,  in  both  of  which  departments  she  was  distinguished,  and  then 
produced  the  stallion  Happy  Medium,  who  undoubtedly  displays 
much  of  the  trotting  quality  for  which  she  was  noted. 

Sally  Miller,  the  dam  of  Long  Island  Blackhawk,  was  a  trotter  and 
road  mare  of  distinction  in  her  day,  her  claims  to  that  rank  being 
founded  both  in  her  performances  at  one  and  two-mile  heats,  and  in 
her  being  either  a  granddaughter  or  a  great-granddaughter  of  Mes- 
senger. 

Flora  Temple  has  also  left  a  son  that  has  some  claims  to  trotting 
excellence,  but  is  yet  not  known  to  rank  as  a  distinguished  stallion. 

Lady  Thorn  has  left  a  son  yet  too  young  to  settle  the  question 
whether  her  high  degree  of  perfection  as  a  trotter  was  in  her  favor  as 
the  dam  of  a  great  stallion,  and  the  same  observation  will  apply  to  the 
son  of  Lucy,  her  distinguished  companion  and  old-time  competitor.  It 
is  certainly  true  that  the  renown  of  Lady  Thorn  as  a  trotter,  and  her 
brother  Mambrino  Patchen  as  the  sire  of  trotters,  in  large  part  origi- 
nated in  the  fact  that  their  dam  was  a  highly  bred  and  fully  developed 
road  mare,  in  constant  service  and  of  great  reputed  excellence. 

Amazonia,  the  dam  of  Abdallah,  was  the  most  noted  road  mare  of 
her  day;  bred  from  the  most  noted  road  stock,  but  without  any  of  the 
so-called  development  in  any  way,  except  hard  and  constant  use  on 
the  road,  where  she  had  no  peer.  In  her  blood  constituents  and  in 
her  acquired  and  steadily  maintained  excellence,  she  was  the  worthy 
maternity  of  the  greatest  trotting  family  of  our  country,  but  not  less 
distinguished  in  each  of  the  above  respects  was  the  Charles  Kent 
mare,  the  dam  of  Hambletonion. 

She  was  deeply  in -bred  in  the  best  trotting  blood — herself  a  daughter 
of  one  of  the  best  natm-al  trotters  our  country  then  had,  and  for  many 
years  was  as  much  famed  on  the  road  as  the  distinguished  dam  of  Ab- 
dallah. From  such  parentage  it  is  no  strange  phenomenon  in  breeding 
that  there  came  the  founder  or  progenitor  of  a  trotting  race  or  family 
the  greatest  the  world  has  yet  seen. 

The  dam  of  Alexander's  Abdallah,  the  most  successful  of  the  sons 


62  THE  BREEDING  PROBLEM. 

of  Ham1)letonian  for  his  short  existence,  was  a  developed  road  mare, 
but  not  entitled  to  be  classed  as  anything  beyond.  So  was  the 
granddani  of  Volunteer,  the  dam  of  George  Wilkes,  the  dam  of 
Ericsson  and  granddam  of  Clark  Chief,  the  dam  of  Trustee  who 
trotted  the  twenty-mile  race,  and  the  dam  and  granddam  of  Knicker- 
bocker. 

The  dam  of  Gov.  Sprague,  in  addition  to  the  qualities  of  a  fast  road 
mare  fully  developed,  had  the  additional  element  of  being  a  daughter 
of  Hambletonian.  The  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief  by  her  good  quali- 
ties as  a  roadster  first  proved  herself  to  be  worthy  to  produce  so 
great  a  stallion,  and  in  later  years  b}^  the  qualities  of  her  descend- 
ants also  fully  established  her  claim  to  the  double  distinction  of 
possessing  as  good  blood  as  was  on  the  calendar.  From  her  Abdal- 
lah  would  have  produced  the  peer  of  Hambletonian,  and,  perhaps, 
a  more  generally  successful  stallion. 

TJie  dams  of  Aberdeen,  Cuyler,  Middletown,  Mambrino  Star,  Ar- 
gonaut, and  many  other  distinguished  stallions,  came  from  superior 
road  mares — the  first  on  the  above  list,  from  a  trotter  of  consid- 
erable distinction.  It  is  rare  indeed  that  a  truly  great  road  mare 
of  good  breeding  has  failed,  when  bred  to  a  good  sire,  to  produce 
something  worthy  of  her  own  excellence,  and  still  more  rare,  that 
a  really  great  stallion  can  be  shown  whose  dam  was  an  unused  and 
idle  mare  whose  blood  cjualities  had  never  been  called  into  exercise 
and  proved  by  actual  use  and  the  capacity  for  hard  work.  Many 
mares  in  the  breeding  farms  of  this  country  have  no  other  claim 
to  superiority  than  a  pedigree  showing  the  blood  of  distinguished 
families.  That  many  such  fail  may  be  owing  to  the  fact  that  they 
never  wore  a  collar  or  performed  a  day's  work  in  their  lives.  It 
might  be  that  many  of  these  long-pedigree  mares  would  acquire  the 
harmony  of  nerve  organism  and  blood  traits  which  they  seem  to 
lack,  if  they  were  put  into  actual  service  on  the  road  for  a  long  and 
uninterrupted  period.  Nothing  else,  perhaps,  would  call  out  the 
dormant  qualities  of  nerve  and  muscle  which  they  carry  hidden  and 
unseen. 

It  seems  to  be  a  law  of  animal  existence,  not  confined  to  the 
human  race,  that  without  labor  there  is  no  great  excellence,  and  that 
it  is  the  trials  and  contests  of  life  that  call  out  and  develop  the 
caj^abilities  of  a  race. 


CHAPTEE    11. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  TROTTING. 

MENTAL    IMPULSES PHYSICAL   CONEORMATION SCOPE    AND   VALUE 

OF    MEASUREMENT. 

At  the  threshold  of  the  subject  of  breeding  the  trotting  horse,  we 
are  met  with  the  question,  In  what  does  the  distinctive  trotting  qual- 
ity consist?  What  is  it  that  gives  him  type,  character  and  value  as  a 
trotter  as  compared  with  a  horse  that  goes  at  any  other  gait?  Is  it 
habit?  or  instinct?  the  result  of  acquired  or  inherited  nerve  or  mental 
quality?  or  is  it  the  necessary  and  inevitable  working  of  a  certain  phys- 
ical conformation  that  carries  with  it  adaptation?  Is  it  either  of  these 
separately,  or  is  it  the  joint  produce  and  result  of  all  combined? 
Upon  this  subject  I  may  say  here,  that  much  has  been  advanced  by 
those  who  have  undertaken  to  write  upon  the  trotting  horse,  and  many 
of  my  recent  critics  have  not  confined  themselves  to  giving  us  their 
own  ideas  and  opinions,  but  have  manifested  some  enterprise  in 
attempting  to  give  mine  before  I  had  u.ttered  them.  I  commend  to 
all  such  a  habit  that  I  have  fovind  useful — that  of  treating  of  only  one 
branch  of  a  sul^ject  at  a  time;  for  if  I  fail  in  that,  I  should  hardly  hope 
to  succeed  by  combining  several  that  were  equally  difficult.  Besides, 
it  is  not  always  safb  to  guess  at  one's  opinions  on  one  subject  from 
what  he  utters  on  an  entirely  different  one. 

In  general  terms  I  may  say,  that  this  trotting  quality  is  partly  de- 
pendent on  both  mental  or  nerve  organization,  and  physical  conforma- 
tion. The  same  may  be  said  of  the  element  called  speed.  Unless  the 
horse  has  form  and  physical  adaptation  to  the  trotting  action,  and  also 
to  speed,  he  can  not  trot  or  go  fast.  Unless  he  has  a  mental  or  ner- 
vous habit  inclining  him  to  trot,  he  will  not  choose  and  tenaciously 
adhere  to  that  gait;  and  unless  he  has  a  quick  temperament  and  a 
highly-organized  nervous  composition,  he  will  not  go  fast  at  any  gait. 

(53) 


54  PHILOSOPHY   OF  TROTTING. 

All  of  these  qualities  are,  to  some  extent,  acquirable,  and  when 
acquired  by  growth,  education,  practice  or  blood,  they  are  transmissi- 
ble and  inheritable. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  say,  in  passing,  in  order  that  I  shall  not 
be  held  unscientific,  that  these  words  "  mental  "  and  "  nerve  system  " 
are  often  used  Avithout  intending  to  be  held  to  the  strict  and  correct 
truth  of  science.  The  organs  that  compose  the  brain  and  embrace  the 
seat  of  mental  and  nervous  action,  may  be  said  to  be  threefold,  viz., 
the  cerebrum,  the  cerebellum,  and  the  cerebro-spinal  mass.  All  these 
parts,  acted  upon  by  the  mind,  carry  out  action  by  means  of  two  sys- 
tems of  nerves,  the  automatic  or  reflex  system,  and  the  sensori-motor 
system.  The  cerebrum  is  the  seat  of  thought,  and  no  exercise  of  the 
will  can  be  carried  on  without  it.  The  cerebellum  is  the  seat  of  com- 
bined motion,  and  is  necessary  to  give  unity  to  the  motions  of  the 
muscles.  The  cerebro-spinal  mass  is  the  seat  or  centre  of  the  auto- 
matic or  reflex  system  of  nerves.  Along  the  spinal  cord  are  ganglia, 
or  centres,  from  which  the  nerves  proceed.  These  ganglia  are.  diminu- 
tive brains — the  same  in  shape  and  functions — and  are  inferior  centres 
referred  to  the  brain. 

The  active  power  of  the  nervous  system  resides  in  these  ganglia, 
and  not  in  the  fibres  of  the  nerves.  The  sensori-motor  system  serves 
as  a  medium  between  the  cause  (aff'ection  of  the  automatic  system) 
and  the  effect  (motion)  which  follows. 

These  statements  regarding  the  seat  and  organs  of  mental  or  nerve 
action  thus  concisely  before  us,  we  may  proceed  to  the  recognized 
fact,  clearly  discernible,  that  this  trotting  quality  in  the  horse  arises 
first  of  all  from  a  state  of  mind, — habit  of  mind, — temperament, — 
temper  of  mind, — inclination  or  instinct  (for  such  are  the  various  terms 
that  have  been  used),  that  induces  or  leads  him  to  adopt  that  way  of 
going — be  it  fast  or  slow  it  matters  not.  And  right  here  I  am  forced  to 
dispose  of  the  question,  "Which  of  these  terms,  or  which  phraseology 
correctly  and  philosophically  expresses  the  true  idea?  More  has  been 
written  and  said  in  reference  to  the  term  "  instinct,"  in  this  connec- 
tion, than  almost  any  other  department  of  horse  literature.  It  has 
been  brought  forward  on  the  one  hand  with  a  sort  of  proprietary 
assumption  that  has  called  forth  and  challenged  the  condemnation  of 
those  who  had  not  the  philosophy  to  dispute  its  soundness,  or  to  fur- 
nish a  term  more  accurate  in  its  application. 

Discarding  all  previous  definitions  of  the  term,  I  may  say  that 
instinct  is  natural  mental  inclination, — inward  impulse, — unconscious, 


TEOTTING   INSTINCT.  56 

involuntary  or  unreasoning  prompting'  to  action, — a  disposition  to  any 
mode  of  action  without  any  apprehension  of  the  end  or  object, — a 
natural  and  unthinldng  impulse  of  an  animal  to  do  any  act  guided 
solely  by  inclination,  and  ungoverned  by  reason. 

What  is  inclination?  It  is  a  leaning  of  the  mind  or  Avill, — a  pro- 
pension  or  propensity, — a  disposition  more  favorable  to  one  thing 
than  another, — disposition  of  mind. 

What  is  temperament?  It  is  defined  to  be  disposition  of  mind, — 
the  constitution  of  the  mind,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  passions 
and  affections;  as,  a  calm  temper,  a  hasty,  fretful  temper, — degree  of 
calmness  of  mind,  or  moderation. 

It  will  be  seen  further  along,  that  this  matter  of  temperament  is  one 
deserving  of  consideration  in  the  mental  character  of  the  trottinjr 
horse ;  but  it  is  apparent  that  it  has  no  proper  application  to  the  ques- 
tion under  consideration — that  of  the  natui-al  inclination  of  the  animal 
to  the  trotting  gait. 

It  is  clear,  from  a  careful  analysis  of  the  several  terms  and  phrases 
used,  that  the  terms  inclination  and  instinct  more  accurately  express 
the  real  idea  embraced  than  any  others.  The  term  "  trotting  instinct " 
has  been  generally  accepted;  and,  but  for  the  proprietary  assumjDtion 
that  has  been  so  loudly  sounded  in  regard  to  it,  would  have  become 
universally  satisfactory  as  both  convenient  and  philosophical. 

This  mental  trait  that  we  call  trotting  instinct,  is  an  unseen  quality, 
not  discernible  by  any  of  our  senses,  and  it  can  not  be  located  except 
in  the  light  of  science.  Like  all  other  mental  states  or  conditions,  it 
is  only  discoverable  in  its  outward  manifestations — in  its  leading, 
inducing  or  inclining  the  animal  to  adopt  and  adhere  to  the  trotting 
action  or  gait,  in  preference  to  any  other.  This  is  the  scope  and 
province  of  trotting  instinct;  and  the  correctness  of  the  principle  does 
not,  in  any  respect,  refer  to  the  rate  of  sj^eed  which  the  animal  can 
display  at  that  gait.  It  simply  embraces  the  inclination — the  tenacity 
or  force  of  that  impulse.  The  other  qualifications  of  the  trotter 
depend  upon  other  traits  and  qualities. 

This  much  being  settled,  it  will  be  oIdvIous  that  this  trotting  instinct 
must,  like  all  other  mental  qualities,  have  had  an  origin  somewhere. 
It  started  before  it  grew;  it  was  acquired  before  it  was  transmitted  or 
inherited.  It  may  be  thus  clearly  stated  that  this  habit  or  inclination 
of  mind  comes,  first  of  all,  and  in  great  part,  from  a  required  or  con- 
venient form  of  action  that  suggests  the  inclination,  and  induces  its 
gratification  and  growth,  until  simjjle  inclination  becomes  confirmed 


56  niiLOSoPHr  of  trotting. 

habit,  both  of  mind  and  body;  and  this  habit  of  mind  and  liody  leads 
to  growth  of  each  by  exercise;  and  the  growth  of  habit  in  mind  and 
body  leads  also  to  the  growth  and  further  development  of  the  form 
that  is  most  adapted  to  the  Avay  of  going  thus  chosen  and  practiced. 
The  above  principle  should  be  kept  clearly  in  mind,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  recur  to  it  frequently,  and  from  it  the  connection  between 
form  and  instinct  in  the  trotter  becomes  apparent.  In  this  manner 
qualities  both  of  mind  and  form  have  originated  and  been  developed. 
A  restless  and  nervous  breed  of  cattle  are  difficult  to  fatten.  The 
best  way  to  fatten  such  a  breed  is  to  confine  and  quiet  them.  The 
best  way  to  quiet  them  is  to  make  them  fat;  and  as  you  proceed  in 
breeding,  quieting  and  fattening,  from  age  to  age  and  generation  to 
generation,  you  reduce  the  lean  native  Texan  to  the  gentle  and  beefy 
Short-horn — the  fattest  of  all  cattle,  and  the  most  quiet  and  docile  of 
all  animals.  His  quiet  temper  leads  him  to  fatten  readily,  and  his 
tendency  to  become  gross  and  beefy  increases  the  serenity  of  his 
disposition.  Thus  it  is  that  two  distinct  elements  reciprocally  lead  to 
the  growth  and  development  of  each  other. 

The  horse,  like  all  other  domestic  animals,  has  acquired  many 
instincts  and  qualities  that  originated  in  the  wants  and  conveniences  of 
man,  his  owner,  and  whose  purposes  he  has  for  so  many  ages  most 
faithfully  subserved.  The  race-horse,  the  pacer,  the  trotter  and  the 
draft  horse  have  each  acqviired  his  distinctive  qualities  and  characters 
res})ectively  from  the  local  and  predominating  demands  of  his  master. 
His  mental  traits  may  be  thus  said  to  have  been  borrowed  in  each 
case  from  man.  The  race-horse  originated  in  the  taste  or  demand  of 
the  rider  for  speed  under  the  saddle;  and  the  pacer,  likewise,  from  the 
preference  of  the  rider  for  that  as  a  saddle  gait. 

The  trotting  horse  originated  in  a  locality  where  trotting  in  harness 
was  the  favorite  way  of  using  the  horse.  Under  our  civilization  it  is 
and  will  forever  remain  the  chief  and  popular  method  of  appropri- 
ating the  services  and  companionship  of  this  noble  animal  by  his 
owner.  The  intelligence  of  the  latter  leads  him  to  select  the  class 
and  breed  of  the  animal  best  adapted  to  his  use;  and  these  two 
elements,  adaptation  and  use,  hand  in  hand,  have  led  us  to  our  present 
advanced  state  with  the  great  American  trotter.  Habits  of  mind  and 
body  have  been  acquired,  and  are  acquirable  by  use.  .  It  is  often  said 
that  experience  is  the  best  of  schools;  it  undoubtedly  is  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  mental  traits  of  the  horse.  Long  usage  and  constant 
requisition  upon  the  animal  for  the  highest  exercise  of  the  qualities  of 


OKIGIN   OF   TROTTIISTG   INSTINCT.  57 

a  road  horse,  has  been  the  nursery  in  which  was  reared  the  embrvo 
trotter,  that  now  so  greatly  distinguishes  our  American  turf.  And  it 
is  instructive  and  highly  useful  in  this  connection  to  observe  the 
influence  of  this  school  of  experience  on  the  part  of  the  maternal 
ancestry  of  our  trotting  families.  It  is  often  said  that  we  derive  our 
greatest  and  best  qualities  fi-om  our  mothers.  It  certainly  has  been 
the  case  with  the  progress  and  development  of  our  great  trotting 
families. 

Amazonia  was  long  and  severely  disciplined  as  a  road  mare.  She 
thus  acquired  qualities  which  she  imparted  to  Abdallah  that  are  trans- 
mitted with  a  force  not  exhibited  by  any  other  son  of  Mambrino.  It 
was  the  same  school  in  which  the  dam  of  Hambletonian  developed 
those  qualities  which  mark  so  large  a  branch  of  our  trotting  family. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  dam  of  Alexander's  Abdallah,  and  the 
granddam  of  Volunteer  and  Sentinel;  the  dam  of  Lady  Thorn,  of 
Argonaut,  of  Daniel  Lambert,  of  Happy  Medium,  of  Aberdeen,  of 
Ericsson,  and  manv  others  of  our  noted  trottino"  sires. 

It  may  in  this  connection  be  worthy  of  note,  that  those  mares  that 
have  been  distinguished  as  superior  road  mares  rather  than  as  turf 
celebrities,  have  generally  had  the  most  signal  influence  on  our  trot- 
ting families  as  the  dams  of  celebrated  stallions. 

Mental  traits  which  are  of  a  deep  and  lasting  character  are  not 
acqviired  at  once  and  spontaneously,  but  are  the  gro^vth  of  long  and 
continued  usage  and  discipline.  It  is  thus  they  become  a  jDart  of  the 
spirit  or  mind  of  the  animal.  By  disuse  they  are  lost  or  weakened. 
Hence  it  results  that  trotting  blood,  in  remote  and  diluted  channels, 
may  not  always  prove  a  guaranty  of  success  in  breeding.  But  when 
an  animal  of  enduring  excellence  is  found  that  has  a  pedigree  rich  in 
the  blood  of  our  most  noted  trotting  families,  and  when  all  the  partic- 
ular members  through  which  it  comes  have  been  noted  for  supei'iority, 
such  an  one  carries  a  guaranty  of  great  reproducing  power.  Like 
having  successively  reproduced  like^  may  be  relied  upon  to  continue 
in  the  same  channel. 

The  matter  of  temperament  is  nearly  akin  to  that  of  trotting 
instinct,  but  is  not  identical  with  it.  Many  animals  have  the  trotting 
inclination  highly  developed  and  deeply  implanted,  but  are  so  hot- 
headed as  to  make  them  trot  one  day  and  be  utterly  intractable  on 
another.  Longfellow  was  a  horse  of  a  remarkably  cool  temperament, 
but  he  possessed  no  trotting  instinct  beyond  that  of  any  other  race- 
horse.    I  once  owned  a  mare  by  imp.  Mango,  winner  of  the  Doncaster 


58  PHILOSOPUY  OF  TROTTING. 

St.  Leger,  that  was  pronounced  singly  the  fastest  three-year-old  ever 
trained  by  a  veteran  turfman ;  but  in  a  race  she  "was  so  excitable  and 
hot-headed  as  to  be  utterly  worthless.  High  temjjer  is  a  fault  very 
difficult  to  overcome,  and  at  all  times  a  serious  obstacle  to  success  in  a 
trotter. 

This  trait  expressed  by  the  terra  temperament  is  one  that  has  very 
intimate  relations  to  the  quality  of  speed,  but  in  such  connection  it 
must  be  taken  as  expressive  of  nerve  force,  or  the  capacity  for  a  high 
state  of  nervous  vigor  and  action.  A  horse  or  a  mare  may  possess  a 
slow  and  dull  temperament — may  be  incapable  of  a  display  of  great 
or  intense  nervous  vigor — he  may  be  excitable  and  restive,  and  yet 
lacking  in  the  extreme  in  nerve  power.  On  the  other  hand,  he  may, 
like  Gov.  Sprague,  be  calm  and  placid  in  disposition,  but  when  roused 
or  called  upon  be  capable  of  displaying  a  force  and  enduring  energy 
that  can  only  come  from  a  nervous  system  organized  for  the  most 
powerful  and  demonstrative  tension.  In  this  lies  the  embodiment  of 
speed.  It  is  for  such  an  organism  that  we  go  to  the  highly -bred  horse 
of  any  and  all  breeds.  The  low  or  the  ill-bred  mongrel  can  not  be 
expected  to  display  any  such  qualities.  There  is  another  quality  of 
mind,  that  may  be  classed  within  the  term  temperament,  that  is  equally 
important;  it  is  that  of  courage,  and  serene  confidence  in  the  presence 
of  danger,  or  that  which  to  animal  minds  seems  to  thieaten  danger. 
A  scary  or  foolish  horse  can  never  be  valuable  for  trotting  purposes, 
although  of  the  most  perfect  form,  and  capable  of  the  highest  flights 
of  speed.  Such  a  family  trait  was  found  in  the  descendants  of  Alex- 
ander's Edwin  Forrest.  They  were  naturally  flighty,  and  the  trait 
was  deeply  seated.  Lilly  Simpson  was  a  fast  trotter,  but  foolish  and 
flighty;  and  her  full  brother  was  the  worst  I  ever  knew.  The  courage 
and  docility  of  the  descendants  of  Justin  Morgan  are  proverbial,  and 
form  a  large  element  in  the  character  of  that  family,  that  gave  them 
for  so  long  a  time  a  widespread  popularity. 

That  other  mental  trait,  designated  by  the  term  "  pluck,"  which 
signifies  high  courage  coupled  with  tenacity  of  will,  and  resolute, 
unflinching  determination,  is  the  golden  trait  that  should  be  found  in 
every  great  trotter — the  quality  that  always  has  a  link  to  let  out  in  the 
extreme  and  vital  emergency  of  every  contest — that  goes  for  the 
death;  and  in  the  very  jaws  of  defeat  knows  no  such  thing  as  despair, 
but  is  ready  to  summon  power  never  before  called  out,  and  snatch 
victory  in  the  very  crisis  of  disaster.  Such  was  the  quality  that  car- 
ried Black  Maria  through  her  twenty-mile  contest,   that  carried  the 


TEMPERAMENT  —  PLUCK.  59 

teroic  Smuggler  to  the  front  at  Cleveland,  in  1876,  and  that  has  often 
saved  the  day  and  the  victory  in  the  face  of  almost  inevitable  defeat. 
The  absence  of  this  quality  makes  a  quitter;  and  a  family  noted  for 
«uch  a  character  may  well  be  called  sawdust.  It  clearly  asserts  its 
origin  in  low  blood  somewhere,  but  is  hard  to  overcome  in  breeding. 

It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  these  several  mental  traits  may 
exist  separately  or  together,  in  various  degrees,  and  are  not  altogether 
dependent  on,  or  wholly  independent  of  each  other.  Trotting  instinct 
or  inclination  may  be  a  deep-seated  and  powerful  impulse,  but  reside 
in  an  animal  of  no  will  or  nerve  force,  or  one  wholly  destitute  of  pluck 
or  courage.  The  gait  may  be  perfection  in  its  natural  impulses,  but 
there  may  be  no  speed.  Or  the  whole  may  exist  in  such  degree  as  to 
form  an  animal  of  the  highest  and  most  enduring  excellence. 

It  is  further  to  be  observed,  that  this  matter  of  trotting  instinct  is  a 
trait  that  in  many  cases  has  been  only  recently  acquired,  and  has  not 
been  inherited  from  remote  generations,  and  deepened  and  intensified 
•with  each  successive  age.  In  such  case,  it  is  often  that  when  crossed 
upon  thoroughbreds  the  first  crosses  show  a  powerful  impress  in  favor 
of  the  trotting  impulses;  but  in  subsequent  crosses  of  the  same  fami- 
lies, and  those  having  the  same  quantum  of  trotting  blood,  the  trait 
or  impulse  seems  to  grow  feeble,  and  inclined  to  disappear  altogether. 
This  is  worthy  of  remembrance,  as  there  are  several  illustrations  found 
in  crossing  the  JNIessenger  trotting  strains  upon  the  blood  of  Diomed 
and  Sir  Archy  where  the  early  crosses  resulted  in  a  distinguished 
trotter,  but  the  same  trotter  was  as  marked  a  failure  in  reproducing 
the  excellence  for  which  he  was  distinguished.  The  Star-Hambleto- 
tonians  laid  claim  to  all  the  glories  of  their  family,  until  it  was  found 
that  out  of  about  thirty  stallions,  not  over  three  had  pi^oduced  a  2:30 
trotter  to  this  date.  Woodford  Mambrino  and  Brignoli  were  two  of 
the  most  noted  performers  of  the  sons  of  ]\Iambrino  Chief,  but  that 
they  have  been  successful  as  trotting  sii-es  will  scarcely  be  claimed  by 
^ny. 

I  may  be  met  here  with  the  inquiry  as  to  when  the  trotting  instinct 
in  the  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  families  originated.  It  would  per- 
baps  be  difficult  to  answer  this  question;  but  it  is  certain  they  had  it, 
and  in  the  latter  horse  it  was  well  and  powerfully  developed. 

Recurring  to  the  physiological  statements  before  laid  dowai,  it  is 
apparent  that  much  of  that  which  affects  the  gait,  or  way  of  going  of 
the  horse,  is  seated  in  the  cerebellum,  and  operates  through  the  cere- 
bro-spinal  mass.     The  cerebrum  is   the  seat  of  the  will,  of  courage 


60  PHILOSOPHY    OF   TROTTING. 

and  of  resolution,  and  of  that  intellectual  quality  which  we  des!<rnat& 
sense;  and  from  all  this  it  is  apparent  that  in  the  horse  all  these  organs 
of  the  brain  find  a  large  development.  They  are  largest,  of  course, 
in  man,  and  some  of  them  are  totally  wanting  in  the  invertel)rate 
animals;  but  in  the  scale  of  brain  and  nerve  force,  it  will  be  found 
that  in  the  animal  creation  the  horse  holds  a  rank  close  to  his  master^ 

PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION. 

In  the  separate  consideration  of  the  individual  stallions  and  fam- 
ilies which  form  the  chief  subject  of  these  chapters,  it  will  be  seen 
that  a  large  space  is  given  to  physical  conformation.  When  we  con- 
sider the  trotting  horse  in  the  aggregate,  it  may  be  that  the  mental 
or  nervous  traits  and  habits  or  instincts  deserve  as  much  attention 
as  any  other  part  of  the  subject;  but  in  view  of  the  highly  advanced 
state  of  our  trottino;  horses,  and  the  advancement  that  has  been  made 
in  fixinsr  his  habits  and  mental  characteristics,  it  will  be  found  that 
at  present  there  is  greater  demand  for  study  and  judicious  selections 
in  regard  to  form  and  physical  defects  and  excellences,  than  with 
regard  to  the  unseen  and  hidden  traits  of  the  mind.  We  have  gone 
so  long  on  the  false  maxim  that  trotting  goes  in  all  forms,  that  we 
have  learned  to  disregard  that  which  at  this  day  has  more  influence 
on  the  excellence  of  our  American  trotters  as  a  class,  than  their 
mental  constitution. 

The  fastest  trotting  stallion  of  America  has  become  a  great  trotter 
through  the  sujieriority  of  his  natural  and  acquired  mental  traits  and 
intense  nerve  force,  in  face  of  the  most  positive  disadvantage  result- 
ing from  a  form  that  has  at  all  times  presented  obstacles  that  could 
only  be  overcome  or  obviated  by  great  skill  in  the  education  or 
training,  and  the  highest  degree  of  acquired  dexterity  on  the  part 
of  the  horse. 

The  American  Star  and  Duroc-Messenger  families  have  attained 
to  a  great  degree  of  excellence  in  all  that  pertains  to  high  trotting 
quality  and  a  nerve  force  and  organisn  of  unsurpassed  tension  and 
power,  coupled  with  physical  infirmities  and  blood  traits  of  the  most 
pernicious  and  damaging  character,  all  coming  from  a  single  race- 
horse that  was  himself  the  embodiment  of  the  highest  nerve  organ- 
ism, and  the  most  deep-seated  physical  taints  and  imperfections. 
We  have  overlooked  the  importance  of  the  maxim  sana  mens  in 
sano  corpore.,  and  have  eagerly  sought  for  an  engine  that  could  show 
tremendously  intense  steam  power,  without  any  regard  to  the  strength 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATIO]^-.  61 

or  proper  adaptation  of  the  several  parts  of  the  machinery  that  is 
to  be  propelled  by  it. 

Allow  me  then,  in  the  further  progress  of  these  chapters,  to  assume 
that  our  American  trotter  has  already  attained  a  high  degree  of  ex- 
cellence in  natural  and  acquired  mental  traits  and  nerve  capabilities, 
except  in  so  far  as,  in  the  individuals  selected,  the  contrary  shall 
appear;  and  to  give  a  large  share  of  my  attention  to  those  matters 
of  physical  conformation  and  proper  adaptation  of  one  part  to  another 
that  go  hand  in  hand,  and  ai*e  of  equal  importance  in  the  make-up 
of  the  great  and  valuable  trotting  stallions  ;  keeping  in  mind  that 
while  trotters  do  go,  and  can,  by  great  skill,  be  taught  to  go,  in  many 
diverse  forms,  there  is,  nevertheless,  a  form  more  perfectly  than  many 
others  adajited  to  the  gait  and  constitution  of  the  trotter,  and  without 
which  the  bio-hest  deo-ree  of  excellence  can  not  be  attained. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remembrance,  that  as  mental  or  nervous  traits 
are  the  result  in  great  measure  of  education — training  and  practice 
— so  defects  can,  in  large  j^art,  be  ameliorated,  and,  in  many  cases, 
entirely  cured,  by  like  processes;  but  physical  defects,  either  in  con- 
formation or  in  blood  infirmities,  can  only  be  overcome  by  the  most 
judicious  selections  and  crosses,  and,  in  many  cases,  after  long-con- 
tinued and  protracted  efforts  in  breeding.  These  efforts  are  attended 
with  so  many  incidents  of  uncertainty  and  discouragement,  that 
the  importance  of  avoiding  defects  apparent  in  form  can  not  be  over- 
estimated. 

It  is,  of  course,  absurd  to  suppose  that  we  can  determine  the 
quality  and  capabilities  of  a  trotter  by  the  tape-line;  but  it  is  not  always 
out  of  the  question  to  determine  his  lack  of  capacity. 

Conformation  and  the  proper  proportion  show  whether  he  is,  in 
this  respect,  well  or  ill  adapted  to  the  highest  excellence.  If  he 
lacks  form,  or  any  of  the  great  essentials,  he  may  be  a  fast  horse, 
and  yet  not  a  great  nor  successful  trotter.  Form  of  the  most  perfect 
proportion  will  not  guarantee  speed  ;  but  if  he  lack  form,  he  will 
be  lacking  so  much  of  that  perfect  excellence  which  is  the  standard 
sought  after  by  every  intelligent  breeder. 

The  rate  of  sj^eed  made  by  a  horse  on  a  particular  occasion  enters 
the  public  journals,  and  gives  him  a  record — be  it  official  or  luiofficial 
— and  this  is  often  all  that  is  known  of  him,  and  all  that  can,  under 
our  system,  be  known  of  him  ;  while  his  way  of  going,  and  those 
traits  which  are  so  requisite  to  a  great  horse  or  a  family  of  enduring 
excellence,  are  never  known    to    the  public.      In   this   way  we  are 


62  PHILOSOPHY   OF   TROTTING. 

taught  to  disregard  every  condition  except  that  of  speed  ;  and  the 
results  of  the  error  are  apparent  in  all  the  breeding  plans  of  the 
continent. 

We  have  fallen  largely  into  the  habit  of  looking  more  to  the 
reputation  of  a  trotting  stallion  or  family  for  speed  than  to  their  way 
of  going.  And  having  seen  fast  horses  of  every  conceivable  variety 
in  shape  and  conformation  made,  for  a  time,  steady  trotters,  by  the 
use  of  all  sorts  of  weights,  boots,  pads,  and  other  appliances,  we 
have  overlooked  the  importance  of  so  breeding  our  trotters  that 
Nature  shall  supply  them  with  a  conformation  that  obviates  all  resorts 
to  such  foreign  appHances;  and  have  also  forgotten,  or  disregarded^ 
the  fact,  that  a  gait  and  poise  of  body  naturally  pure  and  perfect, 
go  so  far  toward  securing  a  perfect  trotter  as  to  relieve  our  art 
from  the  necessity  of  making  up  for  the  lack  of  form,  and  enabling 
it,  as  has  been  well  expressed,  to  work  for  a  sui-plus,  rather  than 
to  cover  a  deficiency. 

The  first  point  to  which  I  shall  call  attention,  in  the  matter  of 
physical  organism,  is  the  necessity  for  an  ample  and  facile  breathing 
apparatus.  Many  otherwise  valuable  horses  have  the  jaws  so  close 
together,  and  a  neck  so  thick  that  the  windpipe  and  its  appurtenant 
apparatus  are  so  far  crowded  and  hampered  as  to  render  it  difficult  or 
impossible  for  the  animal  to  secure  the  full  and  easy  supplies  of 
oxygen  rendered  necessary  by  the  violent  exertion  of  which  he  is 
other\vise  capable.  Nerve  force  can  only  be  kept  up  by  a  ready 
supply  of  oxygenated  blood.  This  can  only  be  secured  by  lungs  and 
air-passages  in  the  most  perfect  health  and  of  the  most  ample  ca- 
pacity. In  some  animals  the  defect  lies  in  a  deficiency  of  healthy 
lung  power,  and  in  others,  of  the  most  perfect  health  and  stamina, 
the  neck  is  so  thick,  and  the  throat  so  restrained  by  the  mass  of 
muscular  surroundings,  that  a  free  and  easy  passage  of  air  for  the 
increased  demands  of  the  circulatory  system  is  rendered  impossible. 
In  this  respect,  the  Pilot  and  other  native  Canadian  families  are  often 
verj'  deficient,  while  the  Abdallah  and  the  descendants  of  Messenger 
generally,  and  others  nearly  connected  with  the  high-bred  horse, 
excel.    Superiority  of  these  organs  usually  accompanies  high  breeding. 

Obviously,  the  relative  proportions  of  the  limbs  of  the  trotter  must 
rank  high  in  importance  as  affecting  his  gait,  or  way  of  going,  and, 
consequently,  the  perfection  of  his  motion,  upon  which  his  value  as  a 
trotter  depends.  While  motion  may  be  instinctive,  and  does  originate 
in  an  impulse  of  the  mind,  and  while  that  impulse  may  operate  largely^ 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION".  63 

or  even  solely,  in  determining  whether  the  motion  shall  be  a  walk,  a 
trot,  a  pace  or  a  gallop,  the  form  or  manner  of  executing  that  impulse 
must  and  does  largely  depend  upon  the  fitness,  the  adaptation  and  the 
perfection  of  the  machinery  with  which  the  action  is  to  be  accom- 
plished. Moreover,  how  far  the  mental  impulse  that  chooses  or  leads 
to  the  particular  gait  is  also  influenced  by  the  adaptation  and  perfec- 
tion of  the  machinery,  can  not  altogether  be  estimated,  but  must  not 
be  overlooked.  An  animal  that  is  lame  in  one  leg  limps;  but  the 
limping  or  shielding  the  limb  from  its  full  task  comes  from  a  mental 
impulse;  and  the  horse  that  acquires  a  certain  weight  of  limb  and 
proportion  that  makes  it  easier  to  trot  than  to  go  at  the  same  rate  of 
speed  in  a  gallop,  will  have  a  mental  impulse  inclining  him  to  choose 
the  trot,  and  adhere  to  this  gait  so  long  as  he  can  accomplish  a  rate  of 
speed  satisfactory  to  his  mind  more  easily  than  by  galloping;  and 
when  his  trotting  action  fails  to  carry  him  as  fast  as  his  impulses 
require  him  to  go,  he  will  at  once  gallop.  Hence,  it  is  clear  that  if  his 
limbs  are  precisely  adapted  and  proportioned  in  the  highest  degree  to 
the  exact  motions  of  the  trotting  gait,  at  a  fast  rate  of  speed,  he  will 
be  induced  or  led  by  impulse  to  choose  that  way  of  going,  and  adhere 
to  it.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  is  easier  for  him  to  go  at  a  slow  rate 
of  speed  in  that  gait,  but  difficult  for  him  to  retain  his  poise  of  body 
and  perfect  control  of  Hmb  at  high  speed,  he  will  seem  to  take  natu- 
rally to  the  trot,  but  nevertheless  will  leave  it  when  the  speed  is  forced 
at  a  rate  too  high  for  his  capacity.  This  accounts  for  the  extraordi- 
•  nary  precocity  of  some  families  of  trotters,  and  their  utter  failure  after 
they  have  come  to  full  age  and  the  demands  of  high  speed. 

Sitting  in  the  grand  stand  at  Cleveland,  in  1876,  I  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  horses  that  evenly  followed  a  certain 
mean  proportion  or  conformation  were  the  ones  to  rely  upon  for  all  the 
beats  of  the  race;  and,  following  the  same  horses  through  the  history 
of  several  campaigns,  I  was  forced  to  observe  that  the  same  forms 
accompanied  success  in  the  main;  while  those  that  varied  from  that 
form  were  less  reliable,  and  less  enduring,  although  now  and  thea 
showing  speed  that  indicated  qualities  of  the  highest  order. 

Goldsmith  Maid,  Rarus,  Jay  Gould,  Albemarle,  Gen.  Grant,  Joe 
Brown,  Sam  Purdy,  Gov.  Sprague,  Bodine,  Huntress,  Trio,  Enfield, 
Allie  West,  will  all  be  recognized  as  very  evenly-gaited  horses,  while 
Fullerton,  a  horse  of  very  great  superiority,  lifts  his  front  feet  a  little 
too  high,  bringing  his  knees  at  about  a  square  angle,  and  consequently 
striking  the  ground  too  hard.     Otherwise   he  is   the   perfection  of  a 


64  PHILOSOPHY   OF   TKOTTING. 

trotter;  but  he  is  freciuently  "  off,"  and  the  slight  circumstance  above 
referred  to  has  an  important  bearing'  on  the  question.  Smuggler,  the 
king  of  all  stallions  in  speed  and  liigh  mental  and  nerve  organism — 
who  went  for  a  distance  of  800  feet,  at  Cleveland,  at  a  rate  of  speed, 
perhaps,  never  equaled  by  another  trotting  horse— lifts  his  knees  so 
high  as  to  cause  the  forearm  to  rise  to  an  ansfle  of  45  decrees,  and 
strikes  the  ground  with  a  force  that  is  simply  terrific.  He  hurled  the 
dust  of  defeat  in  the  face  of  all  competitors  in  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign,  but  succumbed  to  more  than  one  before  he  was  through  the 
circuit,  while  the  twenty-year-old  Queen  went  on  conquering  and  to 
conquer. 

But,  my  reader  will  inquire,  is  there  such  a  matter  as  exact  propor- 
tion or  length  of  limb  that  can  be  determined  by  measurement — bv 
tape-line — that  will  apply  to  all  horses,  and  hold  good  as  a  rule  or 
standard.  I  answer,  that  there  is  no  such  scale  or  standard.  "  Then," 
says  my  friend,  "  if  there  is  not,  I  see  no  way  of  deducing  therefrom 
*  a  system  that  will  hold  good,' "  It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  deduce 
a  system  of  measurement  that  shall  apply  to  a  piece  of  physical 
machinery  with  unvarying  certainty,  as  we  can  not  understand  or 
measure,  or  even  estimate,  all  the  hidden  and  unseen  agencies  and 
nerve  influences  that  operate  on  that  machinery;  but  if  we  can  out- 
line the  subject,  and  learn  something  of  the  mean  excellence,  and  how 
to  avoid  and  reject  the  extremes  of  disproportion,  we  shall  have 
advanced  much  in  the  true  science  of  producing  animal  machinery 
specially  adapted  to  particular  ends. 

In  studying  this  question  of  conformation,  and  reaching  compara- 
tive results,  by  exact  measurement,  a  knowledge  of  the  peculiarities 
of  different  families  is  indispensable,  and  their  varying  peculiarities 
must  always  be  kept  in  mind.  We  shall  also  have  occasion  to  observe 
that  certain  bloods,  marked  by  a  peculiarity  of  proportion,  have  a 
tendency  in  interbreeding  progressively  to  increase  that  peculiarity. 
Instances  of  this  are  found  in  the  Messenger,  the  Diomed  and  the 
Duroc  blood.  It  has,  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  trotting  history, 
been  observed,  that  the  Messenger  family  lacked  in  what  is  commonly 
called  knee-action.  On  a  close  study  of  their  front  legs,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  forearm  is  very  long  and  the  cannon-])one  very  short. 
This  may  be  said  to  be  an  universal  trait;  and  when  it  has  been  long 
or  deeply  in-bred,  the  excess  tends  to  make  the  animal  calf-kneed. 
For  a  little  reflection  will  enable  us  to  see,  that  a  horse  whose  knee  is 
relatively  very  low,  will  have  a  tendency  to  become  calf-kneed,  or  to 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION".  65 

spring  the  knees  backward,  from  strain  of  action  in  propelling  the 
body,  or  in  drawing  a  load;  also  that  the  reverse  will  take  place — that 
is,  the  horse  whose  knee  is  relatively  very  high,  will  incline,  from  use 
or  service,  to  grow  knee-sprung  or  bow-legged.  The  calf-kneed  or 
long  forearm  family  will  not  lift  the  foot  high,  or  bend  the  knees 
much,  but  will  reach  the  feet  far  out;  while  those  with  the  high  knees 
and  short  forearm  will  lift  the  knees  high,  bend  them  much,  but  not 
reach  over  much  ground.  They  will  also  strike  the  ground  with  great 
violence. 

At  Mr.  Bonner's  place,  he  had  three  sisters  of  Dexter,  respectively 
two,  three  and  four  years  old.  The  one  that  was.  three  years  old — I 
think  it  is — differs  from  the  other  two  in  this  respect,  her  cannon-bone 
being  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  inch  shorter,  and  her  forearm  a  like 
proportion  longer,  than  the  others.  On  inspecting  her  in  the  presence 
of  Mr.  Bonner,  I  expressed  the  opinion  that  she  ought  to  reach  out 
well,  when  the  man  in  charge  promptly  said  she  was  the  "best  reacher'* 
on  the  place. 

My  own  mare,  Abby  Bacchante,  affords  the  best  illustration  I  know 
of.  Her  forearm  is  twenty-two  inches  in  length,  and  her  cannon-bone 
only  eleven  inches — one  of  the  shortest  of  cannons  and  the  longest 
forearm,  except  one,  I  have  found.  She  trots  with  a  leg  almost 
straight,  Ijut  far-reaching,  having  much  of  the  pointing  or  digging 
motion  so  often  seen  in  the  Volunteers  and  Almonts.  Her  legs  are 
as  good  as  could  be  asked  in  other  respects,  but  her  dam  is  noted  as  a, 
calf-kneed  mare.  Abby  is  a  grey.  Her  sire  was  Lakeland  Abdallah, 
a  bay.  Her  dam  was  a  grey,  by  Mambrino  Chief,  a  bay.  Her  second 
dam  was  Grey  Bacchante  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger,  a  bay;  and 
her  third  dam  was  by  a  bay  horse.  Now  whence  comes  this  inveterate 
grey?  Her  fourth  dam  was  by  Grey  Messenger.  I  give  his  pedigree 
as  it  appeared  and  was  recorded  in  Kentucky,  including  the  full  pedi- 
gree of  Abby  Bacchante: 

Abby  Bacchante,  grey  mare,  foaled  1870,  by  Lakeland  Abdallah 
(he  by  Hambletonian,  his  dam  by  Abdallah);  first  dam  Bacchante 
Mambrino,  by  Mambrino  Chief;  second  dam  Grey  Bacchante,  by 
Downing's  Bay  Messenger;  third  dam  by  Whip  Comet,  a  thorough- 
bred; fourth  dam  by  Grey  Messenger.  Grey  Messenger  was  by  Dove; 
first  dam  by  Sir  Solomon;  second  dam  by  Sanspareil;  third  dam  by 
imported  Messenger.  Dove  was  by  All  Fours,  alias  Saratoga,  and  he 
by  imported  Messenger;  first  dam  by  imported  Expedition;  second 
dam  by  imported  Messenger.  Grey  Messenger  was  bred  in  New  Jer- 
5 


66  PHILOSOPHY   OF   TROTTING. 

sey,  and  was  sixteen  and  a  quarter  hands  high;  taken  to  Kentucky  in 
IHU. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  wherfe  she  got  her  staunch  grey  color;  and 
to  my  mind,  the  peculiarity  in  the  conformation  and  action  of  her 
front  legs  had  an  origin  as  easily  explained.  It  was  often  observed  of 
J>ady  Thorn,  that  she  did  not  bend  her  knees  much  in  trotting;  and 
the  point  has  been  made  that  in  her  later  years,  after  a  long  career  on 
the  turf,  she  appeared  to  bend  them  more  readily  than  at  first — that 
this  proves  that  this  matter  lies  in  the  knack,  and  not  in  conformation. 
The  difficulty  lay  in  conformation ;  but-  the  knack,  or  skill  that  caused 
or  accompanied  the  improvement,  came  from  training  and  practice; 
and  when  out  of  training  and  practice,  the  obstacle  of  ill  adaptation 
returned.  The  horse  with  heavy  forequarter  and  shoulder,  the  readily 
recognized  natural  pacer — the  Blue  Bulls  and  the  Cadmus  family — 
may,  by  art  and  appliances  of  proper  weights,  be  taught  to  trot,  with, 
however,  a  strong  tendency  to  break  into  the  gallop,  and,  when  once 
broken  up,  hard  to  catch  at  the  trot.  This  capacity,  however,  they 
can  attain  in  spite  of  their  adverse  conformation;  and  when  in  high 
condition  of  skill  and  training,  their  lack  of  form  yields  to  their 
reconstructed  impulse;  but  when  out  of  training,  the  educated 
impulse  yields  to  the  physical  obstacle  of  mal-conformation.  It  is 
oasy  to  see  how  a  horse  that  lacks  knee-action  can,  by  practice  and 
the  application  of  weights,  increase  it;  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  see  how 
excessive  pounding  of  the  ground,  in  the  opposite  form,  can  be  cured. 

Smuggler  lifts  his  knees  too  high  because  his  forearm  is  too  short, 
and  his  front  cannon-bone  too  long.  The  same  objection,  in  less 
degree,  may  be  found  to  the  front  legs  of  Fullerton,  and  generally  to 
those  Avhich  have  come  by  descent  from  the  race -horse  Henry  and 
the  Morse  horse,  except  as  modified  by  crosses  wherein  the  defect 
was  in  part  corrected.  For  trotting  purposes  there  may  be  too  little 
bending  of  the  knees,  but  there  is  mcjre  frequently  too  much. 

The  sire  of  the  Morse  horse  was  knee-sjirung;  and  an  inspec- 
tion of  his  descendants  shows,  that  a  cannon  about  13  inches,  and  a 
forearm  about  20  inches,  in  length,  are  their  relative  proportions  gen- 
erally. Smuggler  is  also  12  and  20.  The  only  son  of  Hambletonian 
I  ever  found  that  bent  his  knees  and  lifted  them  excessively  high, 
was  August  Belmont,  lately  owned  by  Messrs.  McFerran,  in  Kentucky. 
He  was  a  large  horse,  very  powerfully  organized,  and  displayed  an 
immense  propelling  power  behind;  but  he  lifted  his  knees  so  high, 
and  trotted  with  such  high-stepping  and  short-reaching  action,  that  his 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION.  67 

owners  had  dropped  him  from  consideration  as  a  sire  of  trotters,  and 
rested  on  him  as  the  producer  of  stately,  high-steppin--  ^rriage  horses. 
His  measure  was  13  and  20 — the  only  son  of  Hambletonian  that  dis- 
played such  a  conformation,  so  far  as  I  have  seen.  This  is  a  very 
wide  difference;  and  a  close  study  of  different  animals  reveals  the  fact, 
that  a  very  slight  variation  in  the  relative  length  of  these  parts  ma- 
terially affects  the  gait. 

Volunteer  has  a  measurement  of  the  front  leg  of  ll:j:  and  21 ;  while 
most  of  his  family  run  11  and  21.  My  own  mare,  Orange  Queen,  is 
10^  and  21 — precisely  the  same  as  the  dam  of  Volunteer — and  in  the 
chapter  on  Volunteer  it  will  be  found  that  this  peculiarity  of  the  fam- 
ily is  traceable  to  his  dam. 

Almont  is  11  and  21;  and  the  common  objection  urged  against  his' 
get  is,  that  they  lack  in  knee-action;  while  Thorndale,  with  his  11-^ 
and  20|-,  has  far-reaching,  yet  rounding,  action  of  his  front  legs,  lifting 
his  knees  and  slightly  bending  them — about  as  pleasing  in  that  respect 
as  the  most  fastidious  eye  could  demand. 

Administrator  measures  llf  and  21;  and,  to  my  eye,  his  front-leg 
action  is  very  superior  indeed. 

Geo.  Wilkes,  a  smaller  horse,  has  10^  and  20,  and  no  lack  of  knee- 
action.  My  own  stallion.  Argonaut,  with  a  measure  of  11|^  and  21, 
displays  a  far-reaching  action,  with  slight  curving  of  the  foreleg — a 
rounding  motion  that  is  admired  and  approved  by  all  who  witness  it. 

Gov.  Sprague  and  Florida  have  each  a  measure  of  11  and  21, 
and  a  front  action  not  quite  so  rounding,  but  very  satisfactory  and 
vigorous.  These  facts  show,  that  in  matters  of  precise  measurement 
the  exact  rule  can  not  be  absolutely  followed,  however  valuable  may  be 
its  teaching  in  the  aggregate  or  in  the  measure  of  approximate 
truth.  In  many  of  the  Pilots  I  have  observed  the  conformation  that 
gave  too  much  knee-action;  while  in  those  descended  from  St.  Law- 
rence, measuring  about  11:^  and  21, 1  have  found,  with  unvarying  uni- 
formity, a  far-reaching,  gently-cvirving,  but  never  hard-pounding  action 
of  the  front  feet,  that  can  hardly  be  surpassed — an  admirable  medium 
between  the  two  extremes  of  too  much  and  too  little. 

The  American  Star  cross  is  not  uniform  in  this  regard,  but  divides 
toward  one  side  or  the  other.  The  first  American  Star  was  by  Duroc, 
son  of  Diomed,  and  the  second,  or  Seely's  American  Star,  was  from  a 
mare  by  Henry,  and  his  dam  was  by  Diomed.  Henry  and  the  Diomeds 
had  a  short  forearm  and  a  long  cannon,  as  shown  by  all  the  distinct  lines 
coming  from  them.     And  the  American  Star  family  take  either  strong- 


68  PHILOSOPHY   OF   TROTTIJS'G. 

ly  after  the  Henry  blood,  as  in  the  case  of  Conkling's  Star,  and  some 
others,  or  are  controlled  by  the  strong  Messenger  blood  of  the  grandain 
of  Henry,  and  the  probable  dam  of  the  first  American  Star.  In  this 
case,  the  Star  cross  displays  a  straight  or  unbending  front  leg;  in  each 
case,  however,  showing  the  all-prevailing  tendencies  of  the  respective 
blood  traits.  Of  these  two,  it  is  also  noticeable  that  the  greatest  trot- 
ters have  come  from  the  line  that  showed  the  straight  leg  and  the  Mes- 
senger bearing;  as  for  example.  Dexter,  Jay  Gould,  Huntress,  and  Trio. 

I  have  observed,  also,  in  the  descendants  of  Henry  and  Diomed,  a 
marked  difference  in  the  front  leg  proportion  from  those  of  Sir  Archy 
generally,  notwithstanding  Henry  was  a  son  of  Sir  Archy;  and  the 
two  lines  of  Diomed  and  Archy,  if  originally  separate  and  distinct,  are 
generally  so  closely  crossed  as  to  render  it  difficult  to  reach  results 
with  satisfactory  certainty.  This  fact,  to  my  mind,  has  presented  a 
strong  reason  in  support  of  the  early  and  often-asserted  claim  that  Sir 
Archy  was  by  imp.  Gabriel,  and  not  by  Diomed,  as  generally  sup- 
posed. It  is  known  as  a  matter  of  traditional  history,  that  Castianira, 
the  dam  of  Archy,  received  both  Gabriel  and  Diomed  the  same  sea- 
son; and  Archy  and  Gabriel  were  both  brown  in  color,  and  Diomed  a 
chestnut;  yet  in  all  the  produce  of  Sir  Charles,  Bertrand,  Virginian, 
Sumter,  Kosciusko,  Pacific,  Timoleon,  John  Richards,  Betsy  Richards, 
Stockholder,  Sir  William,  and  other  sons  and  daughters  of  Sir  x\rchy, 
the  bays  and  browns  were  in  a  large  majority,  while  the  descendants 
of  Diomed  were  chestniits  by  an  equal  majority.  Besides  this,  the 
peculiar  blood  defects  and  infirmities  that  marked  the  descendants  of 
Diomed,  were,  in  large  part,  unknown  among  the  family  of  Sir  Archy 
• — all  of  which,  to  my  mind,  present  strong  evidences  that  the  credit 
of  founding  the  best  family  of  thoroughbreds  that  this  country  has 
produced,  was  taken  from  Gabriel  and  given  to  Diomed,  because  he 
was  a  vnnner  of  the  Derby — a  fact,  however,  which  failed  to  give  him 
popularity  among  the  English  breeders,  whose  keen  eyes  saw  too 
much  of   his  blood  infirmities. 

The  measurement  and  conformation  of  the  hind  legs  is  of  equal  or 
greater  importance  in  determining  how  far  the  matter  of  instinct  or 
impulse  is  affected,  and  consequently  the  gait  controlled,  by  the  phys- 
ical conformation.  And  it  must  be  so  of  necessity,  as  the  frame-work 
is  the  machinery  that  executes  the  behests  of  the  will,  and  that  will  is 
moved  by  impulse  in  one  of  these  particular  ways,  controlled  largely 
by  the  fitness  or  unfitness,  the  adaptation  or  lack  of  it,  in  the  several 
parts  of  the  machinery  for  either  form  of  motion  to  be  chosen. 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION.  69 

Generally,  we  may  state  the  proposition,  that  the  horse  with  low 
hocks  is  a  trotter  from  impulse,  and  that  one  with  elevated  hocks  is  a 
galloper,  also  from  impulse.  The  horse  whose  hock  is  far  from  his  hip 
and  whirlbone,  the  pivots  on  which  he  rotates — the  fulcrum  on  which 
his  muscles  rest,  like  levers,  to  lift  his  body — gallops  with  great  effort. 
If  his  hock  was  as  low  as  his  ankle,  he  could  not  gallop  at  all;  but 
with  a  hock  half-way  between  ankle  and  hip,  he  makes  two  levers, 
instead  of  one  so  long,  and  by  the  double  action  of  each  combined, 
he  lifts  his  body  and  casts  it  forward.  In  case  of  the  short  cannon, 
and  the  iDroportionally  increased  length  above  the  hock,  he  finds  him- 
self impelled  by  instinct,  resulting  from  that  form  of  leverage,  to 
choose  the  trot  ratl:er  than  the  gallop,  and  to  hold  it  to  the  utmost 
speed  it  will  afford  him.  Moreover,  when  the  length  from  hip  to  hock 
is  increased,  not  only  is  it  easier  to  trot  than  gallop,  but  his  length  of 
stride  (of  hind  leg)  is  also  increased;  he  covers  ground,  not  only  with 
ease,  but  with  rapidity,  for  each  stroke  is  a  long  one.  This  position 
of  the  hock,  higli  or  low,  however,  affects  two  members,  or  points — 
the  line  from  hip  to  hock,  and  the  length  of  thigh — or  line  from  point 
of  stifle  to  the  point  of  hock.  Moreover,  either  one  of  these  lines 
may  be  long,  and  the  other  short,  in  the  same  animal,  or  both  may  be 
long  or  short.  And  there  are  certain  peculiarities  of  certain  families 
that  follow  in  breeding  with  g-reat  certaintv.  Thus,  the  Messeno-er 
horse  had  a  thigh,  and  a  length  from  hip  to  hock,  that  was  exceed- 
ingly uniform  in  its  ratio — being  a  thigh  of  about  23  inches,  and  a 
measure  of  39  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  in  a  horse  15  hands  2  inches, 
or  15  hands  3  inches;  but  when  the  Duroc  cross  came  in,  the  thigh, 
in  most  cases,  was  lengthened  out  to  24  and  24^,  without  any  increase 
in  the  other  lever;  as  in  the  Almonts,  Thorndales,  Swigerts,  Black- 
woods,  and  the  Star  Hambletonians;  but  when  the  cross  of  the  Clay 
and  Bellfounder  horse — known  as  Sayer's  Harry  Clay — came  in,  the 
lentjth  of  thio-h  was  slia-htlv  increased,  while  the  other  line  was  extend- 
ed  to  40  and  even  42  inches,  with  wonderful  uniformity. 

Imported  Bellfounder,  who  possessed  probably  the  most  perfect 
trotting  action  of  any  horse  ever  on  this  continent,  was  a  horse  with  a 
low  hock — long  from  hip  to  hock — and  tolerably  long  thigh;  probably 
as  40  for  the  first  line,  and  24  for  the  latter.  This  conclusion  is 
reached  only  by  a  study  of  his  descendants. 

Hambletoniaii,  nn  in-l^red  Messenger,  with  one-quarter  of  his  com- 
position that  of  Bellfounder,  was  24  and  41 ;  but  the  majority — I  may 
say  the  generality — of  his  sons  and  daughters  run  back  to  or  near  23 


70  PHILOSOPHY    OF   TROTTIXG. 

and  30;  showing  that  the  force  of  the  Bellfounder  blood  was  not  so 
tenacious — at  least  in  that  combination — as  to  contend  successfully 
Avith  the  concentrated  currents  of  the  more  potent  l)lood  of  Messen- 
ger. The  Patchens  and  other  branches  of  the  Clay  family  have  so 
much  of  the  Messenger  in  their  composition,  that  while  they  are  very 
heavy  and  long-appearing  in  their  hindquarters,  they  really  run  very 
near  23 — 39  to  40,  except  in  the  branch  descended  from  Sayer's  Harry 
Clay,  whose  dam  was  a  daughter  of  imported  Bellfounder.  I  may 
say  that  in  this  line  the  real  characteristics  of  Bellfounder  are  more 
clearly  preserved  than  in  any  other  family  whose  blood  embraces  any 
part  of  that  coming  from  the  Norfolk  trotter. 

Two  instances  have  come  under  my  observation  where  the  tendency 
of  the  Duroc-Messenger  cross  to  make  a  long  thigh,  and  no  increase 
from  hip  to  hock,  has  been  overcome  by  a  re-enforcement  of  the  Mes- 
senger blood.  These  were,  Allie  West,  39^ — 23^,  whose  grandam 
was  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger,  and  the  produce  of  Mrs.  Caudle — 
Ericsson,  her  son,  and  Clark  Chief,  lier  grandson. 

The  influence  of  these  peculiarities  on  the  gait  of  the  trotter  is  both 
obvious  and  remarkable,  the  lono-  thiij-h  causinof  him  to  trot  with  his 
hind  feet  wide  apart — in  some  cases  to  an  extent  that  deserves  the 
name  of  straddling  or  sprawling.  Thus,  all  the  produce  of  Mambrino 
Chief — except  the  Ericssons  and  Clark  Chiefs,  and  a  few  other  excep- 
tional cases,  from  causes  not  clearly  ascertainable — the  Star  Hamble- 
tonians,  the  Blackwoods  and  Swigerts,  the  Thorndales  and  Almonts, 
except  Allie  West — all  trotted  with  a  wide,  open  gait;  and  these  are 
the  families  whose  thio-h  is  24  to  244^  inches  in  leno-th,  while  the  Mor- 
rills  and  Knoxes  and  Patchens,  of  New  England,  are  as  well  known 
to  be  the  close-cutting  trotters,  occupying  the  opposite  extreme.  The 
explanation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  Gen.  Knox,  a  horse  15^  in  height, 
has  a  thigh  only  20|^  inches  in  length;  Hopeful,  22;  Orient,  23;  Lucy, 
20.  Allie  West  had  a  thigh  only  23^  inches,  and  the  Ericssons  and 
Clark  Chiefs,  descendants  of  Mrs.  Caudle,  had  shorter  thighs,  and 
were  longer  from  hip  to  hock,  and  trotted  with  a  closer  and  smoother 
Q-ait  than  the  otlier  branches  of  the  Almont  and  Mambrino  Chief  fam- 
ilies,  respectively.  The  effect  of  the  increased  length  from  liip  to 
hock  must  be  apparent.  The  leg  is  like  a  pendulum  swinging  on  the 
whirlbone,  and  the  longer  that  line  is,  in  proportion  to  the  thigh,  tlie 
more  closely  will  the  horse  pass  one  hock  with  another;  and  instead 
of  spreading  wide  or  Sjirawling,  he  will  reach  far  forward  and  set 
his  hind  feet  in  line   under  his  body,  in   some  cases  not  passing  wide 


PHYSICAL   CONFORMATION.  71 

enoug-h  to  miss  his  front  feet.  Such  is  the  gait  of  those  who  have  the 
Harry  Clay  cross,  and  such  was  the  gait  of  Lady  Thorn,  wlio  pos- 
sessed a  thigh  only  23  inches,  but  a  length  of  hip  to  hock  of  4:3  inches; 
and  the  manner  in  which  she  made  her  long  reaches  with  her  hind 
feet,  evenly  and  smoothly,  in  direct  line  under  her  body,  must  still  be 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  many  of  my  readers  who  saw  her  during  her 
very  distinguished  career  on  the  trotting  turf. 

If  I  am  asked  what  measure  I  recognize  as  the  true  and  prociso 
standard  of  the  highest  excellence,  I  answer,  that  there  is  no  such 
standard;  but  the  degree  of  excellence  that  will  combine  the  best 
approximate  of  adaptation  to  the  trotting  gait  will  be  found  some- 
where between  the  extremes  which  I  have  pointed  out. 

The  Volunteers  and  Messengers  generally  are  a  superior  trotting 
family,  occupying  the  highest  rank  and  most  eminent  distinction.  It 
may  be  that  a  little  more  knee-action  than  they  usually  display  is 
desirable;  most  of  tastes  would  call  for  a  slight  increase,  but  as  long 
as  their  far  reaching  in  front  does  not  amount  to  a  dwelling  action, 
there  certainly  can  not  be  any  real  objection  to  their  way  of  going. 
The  opposite  extreme  is  one  that  I  can  not  in  any  respect  commend, 
and  should  always  avoid  it  if  possible.  The  short  stroke  and  hard 
pounding  trotters  can  not  endure. 

That  the  real  trotting  power  is  in  large  degree  increased  by  a  proper 
elongation  of  the  line  from  the  hip  to  the  hock,  is  appax-ent  from  the 
display  of  power  in  some  of  the  great  trotters,  which  excel  in  that 
measure.  Smuggler  is  40  inches  in  that  line;  Bodine  is  41;  Lady 
Thorn  was  42;  Prosper©  is  41^;  the  stallion  Cuyler  is3iH,as  also 
Administrator  ;  Volunteer  is  also  40;  Ericsson  and  Clark  Chief,  and 
their  descendants,  were  also  long  in  that  respect  and  the  best  trotters 
of  their  respective  families.  Any  one  who  has  closely  observed  the 
immense  power  as  well  as  the  extent  of  sweep  shown  by  either  of 
these  trotters,  can  not  for  a  moment  fail  to  see  the  great  superiority 
they  possess  over  those  that  are  short  in  that  line.  They  reach  far 
out  behind  and  set  the  foot  forward  more  nearly  in  line  under  the 
body,  without  lifting  the  hock  high  or  making  great  apparent  effort. 

Those  of  the  other  class,  even  the  best  of  them,  while  they  display  great 
vigor  and  muscular  power,  also  show  that  it  is  accompanied  with  great 
effort.  It  will  be  found  in  a  study  of  the  trotters  of  the  various  families, 
that  those  members  of  each  family  respectively  generally  excelled  which 
showed  the  greatest  length  in  this  line.  This  will  be  shown  more  fully 
hereafter,  when  I  come  to  particularize  and  speak  of  each  stallion  and 


72  PHILOSOPHY   OF   TROTTING. 

the  individual  produce  of  each  separately.  I  may  now  only  in  general 
point  to  the  above  mentioned  as  those  who  represent  or  illustrate  the 
rule  here  referred  to.  This  particular  feature  seems  to  be  the  true 
trotting  leverage,  and  those  families  that  have  long  been  kept  for  road 
or  trotting  purposes  have  undoubtedly  developed  in  that  direction. 
They  have  acquired  long  and  strong  thighs,  and  the  hock  has  been 
placed  nearer  to  the  ground. 

Such  was  the  characteristic  feature  of  Bellfounder,  and  this  pecu- 
liarity marked  the  mare  Mrs.  Caudle,  the  maternal  head  of  a  great 
and  distinctively  marked  branch  of  the  family  of  Mambrino  Chief. 
The  opposite  or  short  leverage  is  that  which  belongs  to  the  galloper, 
and  he  carries  his  muscle  of  the  hindquarters  at  a  greater  elevation 
than  the  trotter.  Use  and  continuous  employment  in  a  particular 
way  develop  the  organs  or  limbs  called  into  action  by  such  use,  and 
thus  adaptation  and  capacity  increase  by  the  same  law  of  develop- 
ment. 

I  like  a  thigh  of  fair,  but  not  excessive  length — 23  to  24  inches, 
but  no  longer — and  if  a  long  one,  then  I  want  the  hock  well  let  down 
— a  long  line  from  hip  to  hock,  24  and  40,  or  even  41 — but  the  long 
reach  in  this  direction  may  also  amount  to  a  dwelling  action.  Until 
it  approaches  that,  I  want  to  see  a  horse's  hock  low  down  and  far  out 
behind  when  extended.  I  don't  like  one  that  lifts  his  hock  and  strikes 
the  cross  bar  of  a  sulky.  Such  fellows  will  display  an  excess  of 
motion,  and  trotters  that  have  excessive  motion  in  any  respect  have 
a  conformation  that  is  unnecessarily  exposed  to  wear  and  tear.  The 
smooth,  easy  going  fellows,  that  go  much  faster  than  they  really 
appear  to  go,  are  the  ones  for  the  long  race.  Such  will  be  found  to 
possess  the  middle  ground  of  conformation, front  and  rear,  which  I  have 
described.  But  in  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  advert  to  the  fact, 
that  of  the  two  classes — those  that  have  long  thighs  and  also  those 
that  are  low  down  in  the  hock,  that  is,  have  a  long  line  from  hip  to 
hock,  such  as  the  Duroc-Messenger  and  the  Bellfounder,  and  part  of 
the  Clay  cross,  and  the  other  or  second  class  that  show  less  apparent 
action,  and  possess  a  shorter  trotting  leverage  in  all  respects,  which 
class  includes  the  Abdallahs  and  such  of  the  Messengers  and  Clays  as 
are  not  affected  by  the  Duroc  and  Bellfounder  cross — the  former  trot 
easier  and  show  more  of  a  natural  and  ready  adaptation  to  the  trotting 
gait;  bufe  the  latter  train  on  the  longest  and  arrive  ultimately  at  the 
highest  and  most  enduring  distinction  as  great  trotters.  Such  appears^ 
to   be   a  clearly  established  peculiarity.     Bellfounder  was,  I  have  no 


SCOPE   AND    VALUE    OF    MEASUREMENT.  73 

•doubt,  a  natural  trotter  from  eolthood.  Those  showing  the  Duroc 
cross,  including  the  Mambrino  Chief,  and  their  sub-families  of  the 
Almonts,  Thorndales,  Blackwoods  and  Swigerts,  show  the  readiest 
natural  adaptation  to  trot  in  infancy,  and  while  unbroken.  There 
appears  to  be  something  in  their  conformation,  particularly  the  long 
thigh,  that  prompts  the  trotting  impulse;  but  those  of  the  same  fami- 
lies that  attain  the  highest  distinction — Lady  Thorn  and  Allie  West — 
have  shorter  thighs  than  the  family  average,  and  none  of  those  showing 
the  long  members  have  yet  reached  the  rank  attained  by  Goldsmith 
Maid,  Rarus,  Lucy,  Lady  Maud,  Lucille  Golddust,  Lulu,  Jay  Gould, 
•Gov.  Sprague,  Huntress  or  Bodine — the  four  latter  being  remote 
kindred  to  the  Duroc  blood,  but  not  showing  the  long  leverage  which 
ordinarily  distinguishes  that  family;  the  strong  Duroc  characteristic 
having  been  overcome  by  the  overpowering  reinforcement  of  the 
Messenger  strains.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  union  of  these 
"two  classes  has  shoAvn  the  best  results  when  the  sire  was  of  the 
Messenger  class,  or  short  leverage,  and  the  dam  of  the  Duroc  or  Bell- 
founder  class,  and  that  the  reverse  order  of  breeding  has  not  been 
■distinguished  for  success.  And  right  here  I  have  an  instance  that 
supplies  an  illustration  on  two  points  that  I  have  advanced.  Jay 
Gould  is  one  of  three  Star  Hambletonians  that  have  produced  2:30 
trotters.  Jay  Gould  is  unlike  the  other  Star  Hambletonians  in  regard 
to  this  matter  of  length  of  thigh.  He  has  a  thigh  only  22  inches  in 
length — precisely  the  same  as  Edward  Everett  and  Happy  Medium, 
both  successful  stallions.  He  has  not  the  peculiar  swinging  motion  of 
the  hind  leg  that  marks  the  Star  gait.  If  we  could  know  the  full  pedi- 
;gree  of  his  grandam,  we  should  probably  discover  a  concentration  of 
blood  that  controlled  both  the  Duroc  and  Henry  elements  in  his  com- 
position. But  another  point,  also  illustrated  in  his  case,  is,  that  the 
mare  from  which  he  produced  his  2:21  trotter.  King  Philip,  who 
already  rivals  the  fame  and  promise  of  his  sire,  was  a  mare  by  Ham- 
bletonian,  and  her  dam  was  strong  in  the  Bellfounder  blood,  such  a 
■mare  as  the  Kent  mare  that  gave  us  Hambletonian  and  such  as  the 
•dam  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay.  The  illusti-ation  may  not  be  without  its 
value. 

THE    SCOPE    AND    VALUE   OF    MEASUREMENT. 

In  measuring  the  length  of  the  forearm,  I  extend  the  line  from 
the  top  of  the  elbow,  or  joint  at  the  rear  of  the  leg,  and  alongside 
the  body  to  the  centre  of  the  notch  in  the  joint  of  the  knee,  and  from 


74  PHILOSOPHY    OF   TROTTIXG. 

thence  to  the  centre  of  the  ankle  joint,  by  the  eye,  for  the  front 
cannon-bone  ;  for  the  rear  leverag^e,  I  measure  from  the  centre  of  the 
liip  joint  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  hock,  and  from  the  point  or  knuckle 
of  the  stifle  joint  to  the  same  place. 

The  study  of  conformation,  in  its  bearing  on  the  question  of  adap- 
tation for  the  trotting  gait,  is  nothing  more  than  comparative  anatomy. 
To  afford  satisfactory  or  valuable  conclusions,  it  must  be  based  on 
accurate  estimates  of  form.  The  measure  affords  the  only  basis  of 
accuracy.  The  eye,  in  those  best  acquainted  with  horses,  is  often 
deceptive  as  to  the  comparative  relations  of  one  part  with  another.. 
It  is  exceedingly  common  to  find  a  practical  horseman  pronounce  a 
horse  long  and  far-reaching  in  a  certain  leverage,  vphen  the  measure 
reveals  the  fact  that  he  is  not  of  unusual  or  even  medium  length  in 
that  respect.  By  actual  measurement  we  are  enabled  to  study  the 
trotting  horse  in  two  aspects,  and  reach  conclusions  that  approximate 
toward  definite  results:  first,  in  how  far,  and  in  what  manner  gait  is 
affected  by  form;  and,  secondly,  the  peculiarities  of  conformation  that, 
attend  particular  lines  of  breeding. 

The  practical  and  appreciative  application  of  the  measure  in  study- 
ing the  trotting  horse  involves  a  knowledge  of  the  anatomical  pecu- 
liarities of  different  animals  and  families.  Without  this  knowledge, 
no  light  is  shed  on  the  subject  by  ascertaining  the  proportions  or 
conformation  in  any  case.  Hence  it  is  that  many  regard  as  illusive- 
all  suggestions  respecting  the  length  or  shortness  of  this  or  that, 
member.  As  they  are  wholly  ignorant  on  every  branch  of  the  sub- 
ject, they  gather  no  light  from  its  most  important  factors. 

There  is  a  class  of  those  who  assume  to  write  on  horses  who  sneer 
at  the  idea  of  ascertaining  proportionate  conformation  by  exact 
measurement.  It  is  probably  a  matter  that  is  beyond  the  comprehen- 
sion of  their  intellects  or  outside  of  the  range  of  their  attainments.. 
All  horsemen  measure  the  horse  in  all  his  points,  in  one  way  or 
another.  It  is  generally  done  by  the  eye,  and  they  at  once  pronounce 
him  long  or  short,  strong  or  weak  in  this  or  that  particular.  Such 
is  the  way  they  generally  outline  a  horse,  but  often  with  great 
relative  error,  and  always  in  a  manner  that  is  exceedingly  indefinite. 
The  exact  measure,  in  order  to  be  of  value,  may  involve  a  knowledge 
of  the  relative  proportions  of  different  families,  and  brains  enough  to- 
make  the  proper  deductions  therefrom,  but  surely  no  one  possessing 
each  of  these  conditions  will  regard  the  study  of  horses  in  the  light 
of  comparative  anatomy  as  of  no  value.     The  tape-line  is  no  direct 


SCOPE   AND   VALUE   OF   MEASUREMENT.  75 

measure  of  speed,  but  it  is  an  indicator  of  the  adaptation  of  part 
to  part,  and  this  adaptation  not  only  affects  the  question  of  the  ease 
and  readiness  with  which  a  given  gait  is  chosen,  but  also  the  speed  and 
capacity  for  endurance  at  that  way  of  going. 

As  I  said  above,  all  horsemen  measure  a  horse  as  soon  as  they 
see  him,  in  some  way  or  other.  We  inquire  his  height — his  weight 
very  often.  I  don't  stop  here  when  I  desire  to  reach  clear  ideas  of 
the  stature  and  composition  of  a  horse;  I  inquire  as  to  his  breeding. 
If  this  is  shown  satisfactorily,  I  then  want  to  know  how  each  blood 
force  has  operated  in  his  make-up,  and  what  are  his  methods  and 
capacities. 

I  want  to  know  his  front-leg  action,  and  for  this  I  inspect  or 
measure  his  forearm  and  front  cannon;  I  then  want  to  know  his 
action  of  the  rear  extremities,  and  when  I  know  his  exact  length 
from  hip  to  hock  and  his  length  of  thigh,  my  eye  and  my  knowledge 
of  his  elements  as  disclosed  in  his  breeding  and  apparent  conformation 
give  me  the  rest.  I  understand  him  as  a  trotter  as  to  all  that  pertains 
to  his  way  of  going,  and  if  I  am  mistaken  as  to  his  real  merits  it  is 
not  because  I  don't  understand  his  anatomy. 

It  was  at  one  time  asserted  that  Dexter  was  son  of  Sayer's  Harry 
Clay,  and  many  tongues  and  several  pens  engaged  in  the  controversy, 
which  the  tape-line  could  have  determined  with  absolute  precision; 
for  no  son  of  Harry  Clay,  of  Dexter's  size,  ever  had  a  length  from 
hip  to  hock  of  less  than  40  to  42  inches,  while  Dexter's  39  inches  is 
the  exact  length  of  nearly  every  son  or  daughter  of  Hambletonian 
from  a  Star  mare.  This  same  test,  and  the  uniformity  with  which  it 
is  found  in  the  descendants  of  Abdallah,  point  with  decisive  authority 
to  the  blood  of  both  the  sire  and  dam  of  that  distinguished  progenitor, 
and  with  equal  weight  corroborate  the  evidences  collaterally  supplied 
as  to  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief.  In  all  this  field  its  aids  are  both 
valuable  and  interesting;  but  as  throwing  light  on  the  question  of 
whether  a  horse  is  or  is  not  a  trotter,  its  importance  must  not  be 
exaggerated.  The  fact  of  his  blood  and  trotting  character  being  estab- 
lished, it  affords  much  light  on  the  way  in  which  he  will  trot,  and  to 
this  extent,  of  his  capacity  and  quality.  In  addition  to  all  that  can  be 
learned  from  this  source  in  regard  to  the  conformation  and  physical 
qualities  of  the  trotting  horse,  much  will  remain  that  can  only  be 
comprehended  by  the  practical  eye  of  experience,  and  which  no  art  or 
rule  or  system  of  anatomy  can  or  will  divulge. 

The  peculiarities  of  the   various  blood  traits  and  their  increasing 


76  PHILOSOPHY   OF  TROTTING. 

or  decreasing  tendencies  are  matters  of  interest  and  importance  to 
■every  one  who  would  understand  the  science  of  breeding.  So 
universally  do  certain  anatomical  peculiarities  follow  certain  lines  of 
blood,  that  the  presence  or  absence  of  the  same  is  often  a  valuable, 
index  in  questions  of  pedigree  or  family  lineage.  The  law  of  inherit- 
ance, and  a  knowledge  of  inheritable  traits,  often  afford  more  weight 
of  authority  than  breeders'  certificates.  I  recently  found  a  yearling  son 
■of  Swigert  with  a  forearm  21  inches  long,  while  the  sire  is  not  over  20^ 
in  the  same  limb.  The  explanation  of  the  increase  of  length  in  the 
yearling  son  is  found  in  the  dam  being  a  daughter  of  Goldsmith's 
Abdallah,  a  son  of  Volunteer,  and  the  second  dam  being  by  a  son  of 
Hungerford's  Blucher.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  long  arm  of  the 
Volunteers  came  from  Lady  Patriot,  a  mare  of  Blucher  descent. 
Thus,  after  two  crosses  of  this  blood,  the  characteristic  short  forearm 
of  the  horse  European,  sire  of  the  Morse  horse,  disappears.  The 
illustration  is  an  instructive  one. 


CHAPTER  TIL 

RACING  BLOOD  IN  THE  TROTTER. 

For  tlie  space  of  about  half  a  century,  it  may  be  said,  attention  has- 
been  given  to  the  breeding  of  the  trotting  horse  in  America.  There 
were  trotters  before  that  time,  and  some  whose  names  and  perform- 
ances have  come  down  to  us  to  indicate  the  lines  of  blood  which,  at 
that  early  period,  gave  promise  of  the  future  greatness  of  our  national 
trotting  horse.  Imported  Messenger  having  died  in  1808,  left  as 
many  as  ten  sons,  at  least,  from  whom  came  descendants  showing  a 
ready  adaptation  to  road  service,  and  some  of  them  a  strong  and  speedy 
trotting  gait. 

Bellfounder  was  imported  in  1822,  and  Abdallah  was  foaled  in  1823, 
or  about  that  time;  and  from  that  period  it  may  be  said  the  attention 
of  breeders,  in  certain  districts  where  the  road  horse  was  becoming 
popular,  was  directed  to  the  production  and  development  of  horses  that 
would  excel  in  the  trotting  gait. 

Messenger  was  a  thoroughbred  or  nearly  so;^  and  it  may  be  noted 
that,  in  all  our  efforts  to  improve  the  quality  of  horses,  recourse  in  this 
country  is  always  had  to  the  thoroughbred  in  the  first  instance.  We 
are  never  satisfied  to  begin  with  a  low  animal  of  any  kind,  and  breed 
upward  by  selections  from  others  of  the  same  type.  No  intelligent 
and  successful  breeder  of  any  kind  of  animals  would  ever  begin 
in  that  way.  Hence  it  is  that  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  where 
horses  have  been  much  used,  whether  for  driving  or  for  saddle  pur- 
poses, the  aim  has  always  been  to  get  back  to  the  thoroughbred  as 
the  one  sure  fountain  of  good  blood  from  which  to  found  and  breed 
the  style  of  horse  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  particular  district.  This 
being  true,  then,  that  the  original  excellence  of  our  American  horses 
runs  back,  in  most  instances,  to  some  thoroughbred,  and  it  also  being 
true  that,  in  the  main,  our  well-bred  and  highly-developed  trotting 
families  go  back  to  the  same  original,  there  is  a  constant  demand  on  the 
part  of  many,  and  particularly  of  amateur  horsemen,  for  a  recurrence 

(77) 


78  RACING  BLOOD  IN  THE  TROTTER. 

to  the  blood  of  the  race-horse,  or  technical  thoroughbred,  for  some- 
thing' to  reinvigorate,  as  it  is  styled,  our  trotters.  Many,  also,  have 
given  years  of  labor  and  much  money  to  the  effort  of  making  a  trotter 
from  a  thoroughbred  by  dint  of  education  and  practice. 

I  will  say  here  that,  in  my  opinion,  more  is  said  and  written,  and 
less  understood — or,  more  accurately,  more  is  said  and  written  with  an 
imperfect  understanding  of  the  subject,  on  this  matter  of  the  resort 
to  the  blood  of  the  thoroughbred  in  the  raising  of  trotting  horses — 
than  on  any  to  which  my  attention  is  often  directed.  Many  have  vague 
and  fanciful  theories  on  the  subject,  but  have  not  studied  it  in  the 
light  of  experience,  or  the  history  of  the  trotting  turf.  In  my  scra]-)- 
book  I  find  the  following,  from  a  clearly  expressed  article  in  one  of  the 
leading  journals  of  the  past  year: 

While  we  have  extended  and  magnificent  breeding  studs  scattered  over  the 
country,  each  with  a  noble  representative  of  some  honored  family  of  trotters 
at  its  head,  we  have  no  thoroughbred  trotting  horse ;  but  we  expect  to  see,  in 
the  immediate  future,  a  thoroughbred  horse  a  trotter. 

It  is  to  blood  that  we  are  indebted  for  our  trotters ;  to  thoroughbred,  royal 
Hood.  Notwithstanding  the  remarkably  high  standard  to  which  the  trotting 
horse  has  been  bred,  the  fact  has  been  fully  and  frequently  demonstrated  that 
the  higMst  types  of  the  trotting  horse  can  be  materially  improved  by  a  direct 
cross  to  the  thoroughbred. 

I  am  tempted  to  digress  here,  so  far  as  to  controvert  the  last  part  of 
the  proposition  above  advanced,  and  to  observe  that  this  word,  thor- 
mighhred.,  has  tAvo  distinct  meanings,  as  applied  to  horses.  The  one 
in  letter  and  technical  theory,  that,  to  make  a  horse  thoroughbred,  he 
must  have  a  certain  number  of  crosses,  all  coming  from  the  blood  of 
the  pure-bred  race-horse  on  both  sides.  This  is  the  arithmetical,  tech- 
nical thoroughbred,  no  matter  how  worthless  a  weed  he  may  be  him- 
self in  blood  and  bone.  There  is  another  tlioroughhred  horse  in  real- 
ity, in  all  that  pertains  to  greatness,  in  form  or  temper,  blood,  brain, 
or  bone — one  that,  by  the  flash  of  his  lightning  eye,  and  the  grand 
and  sovereign  test  of  performance,  can  demonstrate  that  he  is  truly 
King — that  none  but  royal  blood  courses  in  his  veins — Smuggler  or 
Dexter — as  magnificent  specimens  of  the  animal  creation  as  Blair 
Athol  himself. 

But  to  recur  to  the  proposition  under  consideration,  whether  the 
blood  of  the  racer  is  of  any  further  avail  in  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  a  breed  or  type  of  American  trotters  in  the  present  advanced 
state  of  breeding  in  this  country,  and  if  so,  in  what  way  can  it  be  suc- 
cessfully applied? 


RACING   BLOOD    NOT   NEEDED.  79 

In  reply  to  this  question,  as  recently  propounded,  I  will  say,  that 
"there  are  trotters  and  trotting  sires,  the  representatives  of  trotting 
families  now  before  the  public,  that  have  nothing  to  gain  in  fame  or 
breeding  excellence  by  a  resort  to  crosses  of  any  family  of  thorovighbreds 
in  this  country,  or  any  other.  They  are  so  highly  bred  already,  as  to 
stand  the  peers  of  Tenbroek,  Fellowcraft  and  Longfellow  in  all  the  high 
•qualities  that  distinguish  the  equine  race,  and  have,  besides,  a  fixed 
character,  both  of  nervous  find  physical  conformation,  that  would  only 
be  disturbed  and  thrown  out  of  harmony  by  the  introduction  of  any 
element  so  foreign  to  them  as  the  form,  brain  and  habitual  gait  of 
the  technical  thoroughbred.  This  class,  however,  is  a  limited  one. 
The  mass  of  the  trotting  horses  and  families  of  this  country  have  so 
much  in  thera  that  falls  below  the  high  standard  of  perfection  indicated 
:above,  that  the  introduction  of  crosses  having  a  strong  infusion  of 
racing  blood  can  not  fail  to  prove  beneficial,  and  tend,  as  a  whole,  to 
elevate  the  prevalent  standard  of  blood  in  our  trotting  horses.  Bear 
in  mind,  however,  that  I  speak  o£  crosses  having  already  an  infusion  of 
xacing  blood,  as  there  is  already  an  abundance  of  such  elements  in  this 
•country  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  once  again  recur  to  a  single  thor- 
oughbred animal.  We  have  employed  thoroughbred  stallions  in  all 
parts  of  this  country  so  extensively  as  to  afford  us  a  very  numerous 
•and  universally  disseminated  stock  of  part-bred  mares;  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  question  of  sex  very  greatly  affects  the  utility  of  this 
resort  to  the  thoroughbred  in  elevating  the  standard  of  the  trotting 
horse. 

I  have  carefully  read  that  part  of  the  chapter  on  breeding  the  trot- 
ting horse,  which  is  embraced  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Trotting 
Register.  In  his  conclusions  with  regard  to  the  comparative  results 
in  breeding  the  trotting  horse  on  the  high-bred  mare,  and  the  high- 
Ibred  horse  on  the  trotting  mare,  so  far  as  he  intends  us  to  under- 
stand the  thoroughbred  mare,  I  am  compelled  to  differ  fi'om  the  author 
in  the  views  there  expressed.  From  my  own  observation  and  stud}'-, 
I  am  inclined  to  say  that  I  should  never  breed  the  trotting  sire  to 
thoroughbred  mares  and  expect  great  results;  but  from  dams  that  are 
by  thoroughbred  sires,  and  even  from  mares  having  two  or  three 
immediate  thoroughbred  crosses  (but  in  no  case  coming  on  the  female 
side  through  a  thoroughbred  mare),  I  should  breed  with  great  confidence. 

There  is,  of  course,  great  difference  in  the  power  of  different  stal- 
lions to  stamp  a  correct  trotting  gait  on  their  produce  from  thorough- 
bred mares.     Hambletonian  and  most  of  his  sons  I  consider  totally 


80  RACIISTG   BLOOD   IN   THE   TROTTER. 

unsuited  to  any  thoroughljred  mare.     Tliis  I  attribute  mainly  to  the 
obstinacy  of  the  Bellfounder  element,  one  of  the  most  valuable  but 
peculiar  elements  ever  introduced  into  our  trotting  horse.     The  Mamr- 
brino  Chiefs,  the  Pilots,  and  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay  have  succeeded  with 
mares  so  bred  better  than   any  other  families;  and  particularly  the 
latter,  he  having  produced  one  son,  American  Clay,  that  is  a  successful 
sire  of  trotters,  and  could  trot  at  twelve  years  of  age  about  as  fast  as 
at  three — which  is  quite  uncommon  for  sons  of  a  thoroughbred  mare 
of  any  family.     Mambrino  Chief  and  Pilot  Jr.  were  sires   of  many 
trotters  that  came  from  thoroughbred  dams,  and  trotted  very  fast  for 
two  and  three-year-olds,  but  were  lost  to  sight  after  that  period.     On 
the  other  hand,  the  list  and  number  of  mares  whose  sire  was  a  thor- 
oughbred, and  whose  dams  were   even   by  a  thoroughbred,  that  have 
borne  trotters  to  a  trotting  sire,  capable  of  trotting  to  a  grand  old  age, 
and  improving  until  well  up  in  the  teens,  is  already  quite  a  noticeable 
one. 

Lady  Thorn's  first  dam  was  by  a  thoroughbred;  her  second  dam  by  a 
son  of  a  thoroughbred.  Lula's  dam  was  by  imp.  Hooton,  a  thorough- 
bred, but  was  not  herself  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  May  Queen, 
or  Nashville  Girl,  was  by  Crockett's  Arabian,  and  goes  no  further. 
Middletown  produced  Music,  his  best  foal  by  the  record,  from  a  mare 
by  Roe's  Fiddler,  a  son  of  Fiddler,  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  Vol- 
unteer was  by  a  horse  probably  thoroughbred,  or  very  nearly  so.  The 
dam  of  American  Girl  was  by  Contract,,  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam 
of  Lady  Stout  was  by  Mark  Time,  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  Geo. 
M.  Patchen  was  by  a  highly-bred  son  of  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of 
Jim  Irving  was  by  a  horse  probably  thoroughbred,  or  very  nearly  so. 
The  dam  of  Lucy  was  by  May  Day,  he  by  Henry,  and  his  dam  by 
Duroc.  The  dam  of  Pilot  Jr.  was  by  a  thoroughbred,  as  was  also  his 
second  dam.  The  dam  of  Medoc,  or  John  Morgan,  was  by  a  thorough- 
bred, but  was  not  a  thoroughbred — or  at  least  she  was  one  of  those 
alleged  thoroughbreds  that  had  no  authentic  pedigree,  and  these  are 
usually  not  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  Rhode  Island  was  by  Nigger 
Baby,  a  horse  that  was  a  short-distance  race-horse,  and  very  nearly  if 
not  quite  a  thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  the  mare  Jennj^,  by  Red 
Eagle,  was  by  Pataskala,  thoroughbred  son  of  Boston.  The  dam  of 
Bell  of  Patterson  was  by  Liberty,  a  son  of  Lance,  and  a  thorough)  )re(L 
The  dam  of  Woodfoi-d  Mambrino,  the  fastest  son  of  MambrinO' 
Chief,  was  by  Woodford,  a  thoroiighbred.  The  dam  of  Brignoli,  one 
of  the  fastest  of  the  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief,  was  by  Woodford.    Jim 


HIGHLY-BRED   DAMS.  81 

Porter,  the  fastest  son  of  Downing's  Bay  Messenger,  was  from  Madam 
Porter  by  Roman's  Orphan  Boy,  not  a  thoroughbred;  his  2d  dam  by 
Bertrand,  and  3d  dam  by  Sir  Archy;  and  the  dam  of  Roman's  Orphan 
Boy  was  by  Bertrand,  2d  dam  by  Sir  Archy — in  each  case  from  a 
part-bred  mare,  and  the  racing  blood  coming  from  the  sire's  side. 
Mambrino  Pilot  was  bred  in  the  same  wav,  his  2d  dam  and  his  3d  dam 
being  by  thoroughbred  sires,  but  going  in  racing  blood  no  further. 
Tlie  dam  of  Lucille  Golddust  was  by  Bald  Hornet,  most  prol^ably  a 
thoroughbred,  but  not  traced  further.  The  dam  of  Molsey  was  by 
Dallas,  2d  dam  by  Leviathan,  3d  dam  a  saddle  mare.  The  dam  of 
Great  Eastern,  by  Walkill  Chief,  was  by  imported  Consternation. 
The  dam  of  Comee,  by  Daniel  Lambert,  was  by  imported  Balrownie. 
The  dam  of  Grafton  was  by  Kavanaugh's  Grey  Eagle,  2d  dam  by 
J\Iason's  Whip,  3d  dam  by  Post  Boy.  The  dam  of  Little  Fred  was 
by  Blackbird,  a  horse  very  nearly  thoroughbred.  Sam  Purdy,  Wood- 
ford Chief,  Frank  Reeves,  Calmar,  Dan  Bryant,  and  Dick  Taylor,  all 
came  from  mares  of  racing  blood,  but  which  were  not  thoroughbred. 

All  of  the  above  will  be  recognized  as  trotters  of  the  2:25  class,  or 
very  near  that  mark,  and  the  dams  were  as  given,  but  none  of  them 
going  back  to  a  thoroughbred  mare,  although  some  go  as  far  as  three 
direct  thoroughbred  crosses;  the  majority,  however,  not  above  two. 

Besides  this  very  formidable  array,  do  we  ever  inquire  as  to  the 
make-up  of  the  so-called  Star  mares,  which  have  acquired  so  great 
fame  as  the  dams  of  trotters?  These  mares  are  all  by  Seely's  Ameri- 
can Star,  a  son  of  Stockholm's  American  Star,  whose  sire  was  Duroc, 
the  thoroughbred  son  of  Diomed.  The  dam  of  Seely's  Star  was  by 
Henry,  the  thoroughbred  son  of  Sir  Archy,  and  the  2d  dam  by  im- 
ported Messenger.  Stockholm's  American  Star  was  probably  a  thor- 
oughbred. 

By  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Star  was  either  a  thoroughbred  or  very 
nearly  so,  and  no  better  in  blood  than  Post  Boy,  son  of  Henry,  and 
jDerhaps  many  others;  but  locality,  and  the  employment  of  so  many 
for  the  particular  purpose,  in  large  part,  gave  them  their  great  adapta- 
tion to  the  part  they  filled.  Of  these  mares,  more  at  the  proper  place. 
Many  other  instances  of  the  same  character  are  to  be  found  by  exam- 
ining the  Trotting  Register,  and  in  nearly  every  case  it  will  be  seen 
that  where  the  trotting  sire  has  a  promiscuous  lot  of  mares,  both  high 
and  low  and  thoroughbred,  his  greatest  success  has  been  with  th€  hia-h- 
bred  mares,  coming,  not  through  thoroughbred  dams,  but  through 
thoroughbred  su-es — the  racing  blood  having  been  transmitted  through 
6 


82  "RACIXG   BLOOD   IN   THE   TROTTER. 

a  sire  instead  of  a  clam.  In  addition  to  this,  the  list  of  fast  trotters 
which  come  through  a  short  pedigree  on  the  dam's  side,  including 
some  thoroughbred  crosses,  is  a  very  large  one  as  compared  with  the 
list  of  those  that  come  through  a  pedigree  on  the  dam's  side,  ending 
with  a  thoroughbred  mare.  Otherwise  exjDressed,  many  thoroughl^red 
sires  have  a  place  at  the  further  end  of  a  trotter's  pedigree,  but  very 
rarely  can  there  be  found  at  such  a  place  the  name  of  a  thoroughbred 
mare.  The  lesson  taught  by  these  facts  is,  that  a  thoroughbred  mare, 
or  a  pedigree  that  runs  back  to  a  thoroughbred  mare,  is  not  desirable 
in  an  establishment  devoted  to  the  breeding  of  trotting  stock. 

A  like  rule,  deducible  from  the  foregoing  facts,  would  govern  me 
in  the  selection  of  a  mare  with  the  view  of  securing  strains  of  racing 
blood  intermingled  with  trotting  crosses.  I  should  seek  one  in  whose 
composition  remote  or  entirely  foreign  crosses  had  been  avoided.  I 
want  the  trotting  crosses  and  the  lines  of  racing  blood  as  equally 
intermingled  as  possible.  Thus,  Pilot  Jr.,  the  best  son  of  old  Pilot, 
came  from  a  mare  with  two  direct  thoroughbred  crosses.  He  produced 
the  dam  of  Mambrino  Pilot  from  a  mare  also  having  two  links  of 
racing  ancestry;  and  Mambrino  Pilot,  thus  bred,  was  one  of  the  best 
sons  of  Mambrino  Chief. 

Still  further:  Mambrino  Gift,  the  best  son  of  Mambrino  Pilot,  was 
produced  from  a  mare  having  two  trotting  crosses,  whose  second  dam 
was  by  Oliver,  a  thoroughbred. 

The  breeding  of  my  own  stallion.  Argonaut,  affords  the  best  illus- 
tration I  can  present.  He  is  by  Woodburn  Pilot,  a  trotter.  The  dam 
of  "Woodburn  Pilot  was  by  Mambrino  Chief,  and  his  2d  dam  was  by 
old  Red-buck,  the  pacer,  who  is  claimed  to  have  paced  under  3:20, 
and  was  of  the  CopiDcr-bottom  family.  Woodburn  Pilot  was  by  Pilot 
Jr.,  a  trotter,  the  best  son  of  old  Pilot,  the  pacer.  His  dam  was  by 
Havoc — a  thoroughbred — and  2d  dam  by  Alfred,  also  a  thoroughbred. 
The  dam  of  Argonaut  was  by  Toronto,  a  trotter  and  pacer,  son  of  St. 
Lawrence,  a  trotter,  and  the  dam  of  Toronto  was  by  Cadmus,  the 
thoroughbred;  the  2d  dam  of  Ai-gonaut  was  by  DoAvning's  Bay  Mes- 
senger, and  sister  to  Jim  Porter,  the  trotter;  the  3d  dam  was  Madam 
Porter,  by  Roman's  Oqahan  Boy,  he  by  Orphan  Boy,  son  of  American 
Ecli]jse;  the  4th  dam  was  by  Bertrand,  and  the  5th  by  Sir  Archy. 
Roman's  Orphan  Boy  was  the  same  distance  from  a  thoroughbred — 
being  by  such  a  sire — and  1st  dam  by  Bertrand,  and  2d  dam  by  Sir 
Archy.  In  each  case,  coming  from  mares  that  were  only  part- 
bred,  but  directly  descended  from  thoroughbred  sires.     It  will  be 


EACING  BLOOD,  HOW  IJSED.  83 

seen  that  all  the  near  crosses  on  the  sire's  side  were  from  trotting  stal- 
lions  of  great  and  positive  excellence,  and  that  in  the  more  distant 
crosses  the  sire  was  a  thoroug-hbred;  and  that,  from  first  to  last,  the 
dams  have  been  either  trotters  or  part-bred,  but  highly-bred,  mares^ 
and  in  no  part  of  the  pedigree  is  there  a  thoroughbred  mare  on  the 
maternal  side. 

If  the  blood  of  the  race-horse  is  to  be  employed  in  the  development 
of  a  trotting  family,  and  jDarticularly  of  a  trotting  sire,  I  would  employ 
it  in  no  other  manner  than  as  above  illustrated.  In  this  instance 
it  has  mingled  with  the  trotting  strains  in  such  a  manner  as  to  pro- 
duce an  animal,  that  while  completely  crossbred  is  at  the  same  time  as 
homogeneous  in  his  form  and  make-up  as  he  is  marked  as  a  trotter  and 
producer.  It  is  believed  that  his  career  as  a  stallion  and  trotter  will 
justify  the  approval  here  given  to  his  blood  composition.  He  em- 
braces a  large  variety  of  trotting  and  pacing  crosses,  but  they  are  all 
of  the  class  that  fuse  well  together,  and  his  thoroughbred  crosses  are 
introduced  in  such  a  way  as  that  the  whole  blend  in  a  manner  both 
harmonious  and  yet  retentive  of  the  particular  qualities  of  each  of 
the  component  parts  in  high  degree. 

The  philosophy  of  this  kind  of  breeding  must  be  apparent.  The 
whole  process  by  which  we  breed  from  one  type  to  another  involves 
the  constant  introduction  of  new  elements  to  engraft  upon  an  original. 
By  avoiding  remote  and  extreme  or  violent  crosses,  we  approach  by 
a  gradual  development  the  result  desired.  It  can  successfully  be 
accomplished  in  no  other  way.  The  blood  of  animals  of  fixed  type 
and  positive  characteristics,  can  be  blended  in  no  other  manner. 
While  Mambrino  Chief  and  Pilot  Jr.,  from  the  facility  and  readiness 
with  which  they  each  crossed  on  thoroughbred  mares,  seemed  an 
apparent  exception  to  this  principle,  a  close  view  of  the  results  of 
their  crosses  furnishes  adequate  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  rule. 
Their  greatest  successes  were  achieved  in  each  case  in  the  manner 
above  indicated.  The  reason  for  this,  as  well  as  the  evidence  of  the 
truth,  is  also  seen  in  the  fact  that  when  the  resort  is  to  strictly  thor- 
oughbred mares,  the  success  is  greatest  when  those  are  selected  that 
have  descended  from  the  same  original  families  in  most  part  from 
which  originated  the  trotting  sire.  Thus  the  trotting  sires  of  Messen- 
ger descent  show  their  affinity  for  mares  by  Bertrand,  Woodjjecker, 
Grey  Eagle,  American  Eclipse,  Post  Boy,  Medoc,  and  Lance.  This 
is  simply  because,  from  the  likeness  or  similarity  of  their  blood,  the 
guU  to  be  spanned  is  not  so  wide. 


84  EACING   BLOOD   IN   THE   TROTTER. 

If  I  am  asked  why,  on  principle,  I  select  blood  that  has  come 
through  a  racing  sire  rather  than  a  racing  dam,  I  answer:  that  the 
blood  and  mental  traits  or  habits  of  a  mare  of  a  family  type  that  has 
been  bred  and  used  for  ten  or  twenty  generations  for  galloping,  and 
that  alone,  is  of  such  fixed  and  obstinate  character  as  to  refuse  to  yield 
to  the  impress  of  a  sire  lower  than  herself  in  qualit}^,  or  less  fixed  and 
positive  in  his  standard  of  blood.  On  the  other  hand,  the  part-bred 
or  low-bred  mare  does  jield,  and  the  offspring  of  such  mare  and  the 
thoroughbred  sire  affords  a  more  pliant  and  yielding  field  on  which  to 
engraft  trotting  tendencies.  Reason  and  philosophy  suggest  that  such 
should  be  the  rule,  and  actual  results  prove  that  this  should  be  the 
practice. 

In  nearly  every  great  trotter  in  the  land,  we  have  lines  of  blood 
coming  through  or  from  some  thoroughbred  stallion;  while  of  the 
horses  that  can  trot  in  2 :25  or  faster,  not  one  runs  back  on  the  dam's 
side  to  a  thoroughbred  mare;  and,  of  the  number  that  can  trot  in 
2:30,  few,  if  any,  can  show  such  a  pedigree  perfectly  authentic. 

It  is,  however,  by  many  held  that  certain  lines  of  racing  blood 
possess  special  adaptation  to  the  evolution  or  production  of  trotters,  and 
this  claim  is  not  limited  to  the  families  that  have  now  and  then  been 
distinguished  by  a  trotter  of  great  capabilities,  coming  outside  of  the 
ranks  of  the  well  recognized  trotting  families,  as  Grafton,  Jim  Irving, 
or  Jennie.  The  two  families  now  particularly  claimed  as  having 
great  excellence  in  this  particular,  are  those  of  Diomed  and  Trustee, 
both  imported  horses,  but  very  unlike  in  their  blood  qualities  and 
character.  For  a  long  period  wx'iters  on  this  subject  have  given  great 
celebritv  to  these  two  families:  both  alike  distino-uished  for  their  own 
connection  with  or  descent  from  the  greatest  turf  performers  of 
Eno-land.  Diomed  was  the  first  winner  of  the  Derbv,  and  was 
iraj^orted  into  this  country  when  twenty-two  years  old,  and  his  blood 
enters  into  the  earliest  and  most  brilliant  racing  annals  of  this 
country. 

While  it  is  true  that  he  was  a  very  fleet  race-horse  and  his  descend- 
ants have  been  greatly  distinguished  as  running  horses,  it  is  not  true 
that  they  possessed  one  particle  of  trotting  blood  or  any  special  fitness 
for  or  adaptation  to  the  production  of  a  trotting  famil3\ 

On  the  contrary,  the  tendency  of  the  blood  of  Diomed  is  at  all 
times  in  a  direction  contrary  to  trotting  excellence,  and  the  trotting 
quality  of  any  family  in-bred  in  that  blood  Avill  constantly  deteriorate 
when  sires  are  employed  that  represent  a  large  quantum  of  the  blood 
of  Diomed. 


TRUSTEE.  85 

It  will  answer  the  purpose  of  giving  stamina  and  high  quality, 
when  employed  on  the  side  of  the  dam  as  heretofore  indicated,  but 
when  employed  on  the  side  of  the  sire  the  tendency  is  toward  the 
original,  whose  habits  were  those  of  a  galloper  and  not  a  trotter. 
Diomed  never  produced  a  trotting  sire,  and  no  sire  strong  in  that 
blood  will  produce  trotters  or  those  capable  of  transmitting  the  trot- 
ting quality. 

The  other  family  claimed  to  have  special  excellence  in  trotting 
quality,  was  that  of  imported  Trustee,  and  his  reputation  rests,  in  part, 
on  the  fact  that  he  was  the  sire  of  Trustee,  the  horse  that  was  the  first 
to  trot  twenty  miles  inside  an  hour.  Whether  this  fact  should  be 
regarded  as  sufficient  to  enable  the  Trustees  to  rank  as  a  trotting- 
family  of  thoroughbreds,  since  the  appearance  of  Jim  Irving,  Grafton, 
and  Jennie,  all  faster  trotters  than  Trustee,  is  somewhat  doubtful,  and 
the  doubt  is  greatly  increased  b}^  the  fact  that  Fanny  Pullen,  the  dam 
of  Trustee,  was  herself  a  great  trotter  and  far  superior  to  the  dams  of 
either  of  the  above-named  trotters. 

It  is  supposed  by  some,  that  imported  Trustee  possessed  no  more 
adaptation  in  blood  qualities  to  the  production  of  trotters  than  Boston, 
Red  Eye,  ^Melbourne  or  many  other  of  our  stout  and  lasting  race- 
horses; and  that  now  and  then  a  descendant  of  Leamington,  Bonnie 
Scotland,  Hurrah,  Priam,  Australian  or  Longfellow  will  come  out  as 
the  trotting  wonder  of  the  period,  but  that  will  not  rank  either  of 
them  as  trotting  sires  or  add  to  their  fame  as  race-horses.  I  shall 
expect  good  results  from  the  blood  of  Longfellow,  and  if  there  was 
any  use  in  experimenting,  or  an\^hing  to  be  gained  to  the  trotting 
blood  of  this  country  by  a  resort  to  that  of  the  racer,  I  should  send 
my  Cadmus  mare — the  feminine  countei-part  of  Smuggler — to  Long- 
fellow, and  hope  for  success. 

Trustee  was  a  stout  and  well-bred  horse,  and  while  he  had  no  posi- 
tive adaptation  for  trotting  purposes,  having  stood  in  the  section  of 
the  country  where  he  was  crossed  on  the  best  road  stock  of  the  land, 
he  has  left  some  descendants  that  reflect  honor  on  his  own  excellence 
as  a  sire,  and  has  helped  to  lay  valuable  foundations  on  which  well- 
bred  trotting  stallions  have  built  and  will  continue  to  build  with  suc- 
cess. It  is  a  good  cross  in  a  trotting  pedigree,  but  the  trotting 
excellence  must  have  some  additional  support  besides  the  blood  of 
Trustee,  before  they  can  be  expected  to  stand  as  an  independent, 
self-sustaining  trotting  family. 

While  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  Trustee  had  not  enough  of  the 


86  EACING  BLOOD   IN   THE   TROTTER. 

blood  instincts  and  impulses  of  the  trotter,  unaided  by  reinforcement 
from  other  sources,  to  overcome  the  racing  or  galloping  impulses  of 
the  thoroughbred  or  Arab,  he  has  in  so  many  instances  appeared  in 
the  pedigree  of  fast  trotters,  and  those  which  have  come  from  racing 
or  thoroughbred  families,  as  to  suggest  that  he  yet  retained  a  strong 
trace  of  the  blood  and  trotting  instincts  of  a  coach  or  road  horse  in 
the  remote  past,  and  as  it  does  apjoear  that  he  runs  to  Sampson  by 
one  or  more  lines,  this  fact  may  be  accounted  for,  as  will  be  more 
fully  seen  in  Chapter  V,  when  I  came  to  speak  of  Sampson. 

The  history  of  the  trotting  turf  in  this  country  has  furnished  an 
interesting  number  of  what  might  be  termed  exceptional  trotters, 
from  their  having  now  and  then  apjDeared,  one  at  a  time,  from  diflFerent 
families  not  supposed  to  possess  any  special  element  of  trotting 
blood,  and  which  have  hardly  been  succeeded  with  sufficient  indica- 
tions to  point  to  their  origin  as  anything  more  than  purely  excep- 
tional. However,  it  will  be  a  matter  of  some  interest,  and  somewhat 
suggestive  also,  to  note  in  how  many  of  these  sporadic  or  exceptional 
cases  the  blood  of  Trustee  or  his  sire  Catton  appears,  and  we  must  not 
too  hastily  assert  that  his  blood  is  not  a  valuable  factor  in  the 
pedigree  of  our  trotting  families. 

While  the  individual  cases  of  a  great  trotter,  coming  from  imme- 
diate thoroughbred  sources,  do  not  carry  with  them  any  absolute 
lesson  of  great  value  on  the  subject  of  breeding  the  trotting  horse, 
the  history  of  our  turf  has  furnished  some  interesting  records. 

Imported  Young  Priam,  a  son  of  the  great  Priam,  son  of  Emilius, 
and  out  of  an  English  mare  by  Soothsayer,  was  the  sire  of  the 
gelding  Silas  Rich  that  attained  a  record  of  2:24f,  and  fourteen  heats 
in  2:30  or  better.  The  blood  of  the  dam  was  unknown,  and  her 
qualifications  for  trotting  are  also  unknown. 

Strawn's  Monarch,  a  son  of  imported  Monarch,  a  son  of  imported 
Priam,  has  produced  some  trotters.  I  am  not  advised  as  to  the  blood 
of  his  dam.  He  has  to  his  credit  Monarch  Jr.,  with  a  record  of  2:25^, 
and  twenty-one  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  and  Monarch  Rule,  2:27,  and 
thirteen  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  This,  in  connection  with  Silas  Rich, 
the  son  of  Young  Priam,  will  suggest,  doubtless,  some  adaptation  in 
the  blood  of  Priam  for  the  trotting  horse. 

Young  Melbourne,  a  son  of  imported  Knight  of  St.  George,  whose 
dam  was  Melrose  by  Melbourne,  was  the  sire  of  the  bay  gelding  Jim 
Irving,  one  of  the  fastest  trotters  that  ever  yet  showed  on  our  trot- 
ting turf.     He  made  a  record  of  2:23,  and  seven  heats  in  2:30  or 


YOUNG   MELBOURNE.  87 

better,  and  made  the  last  half-mile  of  the  third  heat  in  one  of  his 
races  in  1:06.  He  looks  like  a  thoroughbred,  and  is  the  exact  image 
of  the  mare"  Alice,  by  imp.  Knight  of  St.  George.  He  would  pass  well 
for  her  full  brother.  He  was  a  fast  trotter  for  one  season,  and  unsteady 
and  oif  afterward.  Has  been  ofl"  the  turf  for  several  years,  but  it  is 
said  he  is  now  showing  a  liking  for  the  fast  gait  again.  The  dam  of 
Jim  Irving  was  by  Leah's  Sir  William,  and  he  was  by  Howard's  Sir 
Charles,  by  Clinton,  by  Sir  Charles,  by  Sir  Archy,  from  a  mare  by 
imported  Contract,  a  son  of  Catton,  the  sire  of  imported  Trustee. 

In  the  pedigree  of  Melbourne  we  find  the  blood  of  Sampson  five 
times  on  his  dam's  side  alone,  and  in  one  of  these  crosses  it  is  through 
an  own  sister  to  Mambrino.  Contract,  the  son  of  Catton,  the  sire 
of  Trustee,  is  a  cross  well  known  and  esteemed  in  England  for  road- 
sters and  coach  horses.  The  "  Druid,"  one  of  the  best  informed 
au-^hors,  says  of  the  Cattons:  "Few  lines  of  blood  have  done  more 
for  Yorkshire.  Racing,  hunting,  coaching — in  fact,  nothing  came 
amiss  to  his  stock."  In  this  country  we  find  the  blood  of  Catton  in 
Hooton,  from  a  mare  by  Catton,  and  Hooton  gave  us  the  dam  of 
Lula  by    Norman,    record  of  2:15,   and  forty- four  heats  in  2:30. 

It  has  been  a.scertained  that  the  dam  of  American  Girl — record 
2:16-2-,  the  fastest  of  the  Bashaw  and  Clay  families — was  by  imported 
Contract,  son  of  Catton. 

When  the  blood  of  Sampson  is  considered,  as  fully  shown  in  Chap- 
ter V,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  trotting  qualities  of  Jim  Irving  and  his 
sire.  Young  Melbourne,  are  fully  accounted  for,  and  that  it  even  goes 
further,  and  suggests  that,  after  all,  the  blood  of  Trustee  ma}-^  have 
something  more  than  a  mere  negative  adaptation  to  the  purposes  of 
the  roadster  and  trotting  horse. 

The  trotting  stallion  John  Nelson  is  generally  credited  to  the 
Trustee  family.  He  is  in  one  place,  and  generally,  said  to  be  by  a 
son  of  Trustee,  but  it  has  recently  been  stated  that  he  was  by  Trustee, 
the  imported  son  of  Catton.  His  dam  was  the  Redmond  mare, 
dauo-hter  of  Abdallah,  which  is  a  sufficient  fact  to  absorb  all  the  credit 
due  to  him  as  a  trotting  sire.  He  is  one  of  some  note,  and  has  to  his 
credit  Aurora,  2:27,  and  three  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Gov.  Stanford, 
2:2T^,  and  six  heats;  Nemo,  2:30;  and  Nerea,  2:23^,  and  nine  heats 
in  2:30  or  better. 

Scotland  is  a  son  of  imp.  Bonnie  Scotland,  one  of  the  finest  thor- 
oughbred horses  ever  brought  to  our  shores.  The  dam  of  this  gelding 
was  the  famous  brood  mare,  Waterwitch,  by  Pilot  Jr.;  second  dam  by 


88  RACING  BLOOD  IN  TUE  TROTTER. 

a  son  of  St.  Lawrence.  This  mare,  the  clam  of  Scotland,  was  also  the 
clam  of  Manibrino  Gift,  one  of  the  greatest  trotters  that  has  appeared 
on  our  tiy-f.  Scotland  has  a  record  of  3:22^,  and  sixteen  heats  in 
2:30  or  better. 

Belmont,  a  thoroughbred  son  of  American  Boy,  is  credited  as  being 
the  sia-e  of  Venture;  his  dam  is  unknown.  He  has  a  record  of  2:27f, 
and  four  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  His  pedigree  and  origin  are  not 
very  well  authenticated.  Moreover,  this  same  i^merican  Boy  is 
credited  with  being  the  sire  of  the  trotter  of  early  fame,  called 
Awful.  He  was  in  his  day  a  trotter  of  distinction.  The  sire  and  dam 
of  American  Boy  were  both  by  imported  Expedition. 

The  trotting  mare  Tennessee  was  by  a  thoroughbred.  Commodore, 
a  son  of  Boston.  Her  dam  was  by  Vermont  Blackhawk,  grandam 
said  to  be  a  mare  of  double  Messenger  blood,  of  great  speed  and  en- 
durance. If  such  was  the  character  of  the  dam,  the  character  of  the 
mare  Tennessee  is  easily  accounted  for.  She  made  a  record  of  2:27, 
and  three  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

The  very  excellent  trotting  mare  Jenny  is  credited  to  Red  Eagle, 
a  son  of  Grey  Eagle,  the  great  competitor  of  Wagner,  and  the  pride 
of  all  Kentucky.  Her  dam  was  Topsey  Reamy,  by  Pataskala,  a  son 
of  Boston.  Here  was  a  mare  whose  sire  was  very  nearly  a  thorough- 
bred— a  son  of  a  thoroughbred,  at  any  rate — ^and  her  dam  was  by  a 
thoroughbred,  yet  she  was  a  trotter  of  great  superiority  and  distinc- 
tion. She  attained  a  record  of  2:22-^,  and  eighteen  heats  in  2:30  or 
better.  Her  sire  Red  Eagle  also  produced  Daniel  the  Prophet,  with 
a  record  of  2:27,  and  three  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

This  Grev  Eagle  blood  was  one  of  great  excellence  for  trotting 
purjDOses,  which  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  Grey  Eagle  was  by 
"Woodpecker,  son  of  Bertrand,  and  the  grandam  of  Bertrand  was  by 
Mambrino,  the  sire  of  imported  Messenger,  of  whom  a  full  account 
will  be  given  in  Chapter  V.  The  Grey  Eagle  cross  in  the  dams  of 
trotters  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  of  all  thoroughbred  crosses. 

Chenery's  Grey  Eagle  was  a  horse  about  which  there  exists  great 
doubt  and  uncertainty;  but  there  can  be  little  or  no  doubt  as  to  his 
being  a  son  of  Grey  Eagle.  It  has  been  claimed  that  his  dam  was  a 
thoroughbred,  by  imported  Glencoe,  grandam  by  American  Eclipse; 
but  the  whole  matter  is  involved  in  uncertainty.  Mr.  O.  B.  Gould, 
of  Sciota  county,  Ohio,  a  breeder  of  excellent  horses,  and  a  man  of 
well-known  character  and  reputation  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  as- 
serts that  he  bred  the  horse;  that  the  business   was  managed  by  one 


SAMPSON   BLOOD.  89 

McKinney,  from  whom  he  obtained  the  mare,  and  Mr.  Gould  gives 
the  above  pedigree.  The  colt  seems  to  have  been  in  Kentucky  at 
one  time  when  very  young,  and  there  is  great  uncertainty  about  the 
whole  matter.  He  has  generally  been  regarded  as  a  thoroughbred. 
He  was  a  good  runner  and  a  fast  trotter,  and  could  beat  his  competi- 
tors easily,  it  is  said,  at  both  gaits.  I  find  no  record  made  by  him 
better  than  2:31,  but  he  trotted  a  great  many  heats  and  races  in  2:31 
to  2:45.  He  also  trotted  two-mile  heats  in  5:12-^.  His  history  is  a 
long  one,  and  full  of  doubtful  places.  He  was  owned  by  a  man 
whose  professional  calling  did  not  add  to  his  credibility,  and  but  little 
rehance  can  be  placed  on  any  fact,  except  the  general  ones  of  his  his- 
tory. He  was  owned  in  recent  years  by  Winthrop  W.  Chenery  & 
Co.,  of  Boston. 

Grafton,  a  chestnut  gelding,  owned  by  Robert  Bonner,  Esq.,  was 
by  Vanmeter's  Waxy,  dam  by  Kavanaugh's  Grey  Eagle;  second  dam 
by  Mason's  Whip;  third  dam  by  Post  Boy;  fourth  dam  by  Jim  Allen, 
a  thoroughbred.  This  pedigree  is  made  up  of  thoroughbred  crosses, 
but  is  in  no  part  near  to  this  trotter  strictly  thoroughbred.  He  was  a 
very  fast  horse,  and  made  a  record  of  2:22^,  and  eleven  heats  in  2:30 
or  better,  after  which  he  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Bonner,  and 
was  retired  from  the  turf. 

The  young  stallion  Portion  by  Planet,  son  of  Revenue,  he  by  imp. 
Trustee,  is  a  trotting  stallion  of  some  prominence,  and  will  most 
likely  prove  a  good  one,  both  as  a  trotter  and  a  breeder,  as  his  dam 
was  one  of  the  best  and  most  noted  of  the  daughters  of  Mambrino 
Chief,  and  is  also  the  dam  of  the  stallion  Voltaire,  one  of  the  greatest 
stallions  now  before  the  country. 

The  trotting  action  of  Planet  is  often  referred  to.  He  is  frequently 
spoken  of  much  in  the  same  way  that  Mambrino,  the  sire  of  Messen- 
ger, is  characterized,  that  in  his  racing  career,  in  which  he  was  greatly 
distinguished,  he  would  often  start,  in  a  race,  on  a  sweeping  trot  when 
approaching  the  score.  This  was  a  trait  which  marked  the  produce 
of  Revenue,  the  sire  of  Planet.  His  other  son.  Exchequer,  has  been 
noted  for  displapng  similar  traits,  and  I  think  we  may  anticipate  now 
and  then  to  see  these  traits  of  the  Sampson  blood  come  out  ve:y 
notably  in  the  highly  bred,  and  perhaps  thoroughbred  descendants  of 
Catton,  Hooton,  Sarpedon,  Bertrand,  Grey  Eagle,  Trustee,  Revenue, 
Planet,  Exchequer,  and  above  all,  in  the  daughters  of  Melbourne. 

Exchequer  has  to  his  credit,  one  trotter  in  the  2:30  list:  Lucille, 
with  record  of  2:29. 


90  RACING   BLOOD  IN  THE   TROTTER. 

Prince — by  Woodpecker,  dam  by  imp.  Sarpedon,  claimed  to  be  a 
strictly  thoroughbred — has  a  record  of  2:27.  He  has  several  lines 
to  Sampson,  including  two  through  Mambrino,  and  the  qualities 
of  that  blood,  as  shown  in  Chapter  V,  will  explain  his  trotting 
qualities. 

Planet  and  Melbourne  are  both  dead,  but  they  died  very  recently, 
and  their  sons  and  daughters  will  flourish  yet  for  a  long  time.  The 
trotting  element  is  in  this  family,  but  it  has  so  long  been  buried 
beneath  the  force  of  numberless  crosses  of  pure  racing  blood,  that 
its  force  and  quality  has  well  nigh  disappeared.  It  is  only  when  the 
racing  instincts  have  gro^^^l  dull  or  dormant  by  disuse,  that  the  trot- 
ting quality  comes  to  the  surface.  In  this,  however,  I  am  anticipating 
that  which  properly  belongs  vnth.  Chapter  V,  and  I  only  turn  aside 
here  to  say,  that  while  the  blood  of  Trustee  and  Catton  have  some 
traces  of  trotting  quality,  it  is  not  enough  of  itself  to  give  the  family 
the  character  of  a  trotting  family.  It  must  receive  reinforcement 
from  use,  employment,  or  some  other  source. 

Fiddler  was  a  strictly  thoroughbred  horse,  by  Monmouth  Eclipse  ; 
his  dam  was  Music,  by  John  Richards,  son  of  Sir  Archy.  He  could 
both  run  and  trot,  and  is  credited  with  having  trotted  under  saddle  on 
a  highway,  twenty  miles  in  one  hour,  nine  minutes,  twenty-three  sec- 
onds. His  sire  ought  to  have  been  a  producer  of  trotters  from  his 
blood  composition. 

Capt.  Magowan  was  by  imp.  Sovereign,  and  his  dam  was  by  Amer- 
ican Eclipse.  He  trotted  twenty  miles  in  fifty-eight  minutes,  twenty- 
five  seconds. 

I  know  there  are  those  just  now  who  classify  all  such  trotters  as 
the  foregoing,  descended  from  the  blood  of  the  racer,  as  having  some 
remote  and  very  mysterious  pacing  cross,  which  gives  them  their 
trotting  quality. 

There  was  a  time  when  every  distinguished  trotter  whose  breeding 
was  unkno^vn  was  classified  in  the  list  of  undoubted  Messengers,  and 
more  recently  the  same  school  of  authority  has  transferred  all  such  to 
the  credit  of  the  jDacing  element,  of  which  I  shall  treat  in  the  next 
chapter. 

In  this  latter  classification  there  appears  one  advantage,  in  the  lately 
discovered  fact  that  the  origin  of  the  pacer  is  a  matter  of  such 
extreme  antiquity  that  no  authority  can  ever  be  produced  which  will 
in  any  waj'' refute  such  classification.  It  is  the  safest  pedigree  that 
can  be  given  to  any  great  trotter  of  unknown  blood. 


NEED   OF   MODIFICATION.  91 

In  Cha}Dter  V  it  w-ill  appear  that  there  are  certain  lines  of  racing 
blood,  descended  in  part  from  coach  or  road  horse  crosses,  which,  by 
accident  or  other  means,  have  been  introduced  into  the  progenitors  of 
these  families — that  all  such  families  have  two  opposite  and  contending 
blood  forces  in  their  composition — the  one,  which  is  called  the  racing 
or  galloping  inclination  and  came  from  the  pm'e  blood  of  the  Arab  or 
Barb,  from  which  our  blood  horse  is  descended ;  the  other,  which  is 
called  the  trotting  inclination  or  instinct,  and  wliich  comes  from 
elements  that  have  been  enured  to  service  on  the  road  and  in  harness. 
It  sometimes  happens  that  from  use  or  employment  a  single  member 
or  more  of  one  of  these  families  thus  constituted,  from  use  and  employ- 
ment at  road  gaits,  displays  an  aptness  or  inclination  or  adaptation 
for  that  way  of  going,  and  by  training  and  discipline  these  qualities 
and  traits  are  so  stimulated  and  encouraged  as  to  result  in  a  trotter 
of  great  sviperiority  and  distinction.  Such  a  result  will  not,  however, 
be  likely  to  come  from  a  family  where  no  such  latent  and  pre-existmg 
road  impulses  have  existed,  and  such  cases  when  they  do  occur  vnW 
not  justify  the  belief  that  the  great  trotter  or  the  agreeable  and  val- 
uable roadster  can  be  manufactured  from  a  thoroughbred  by  dint  of 
education  and  discipline.  Much  effort  has  been  made  in  that  direction, 
but  much  loss  and  failure  has  been  experienced. 


CHA.PTEE  IV. 

THE   PACING  ELEMENT. 

On  this  subject  much  has  been  wi-itten  of  late  years  and  some 
have  occasionally  referred  to  it  as  having  made  important  discoveries 
in  regard  to  its  relations  to  the  trotting  horse.  But  vdth  all  that  has 
been  so  wisely  surmised  or  written,  not  a  particle  of  light  has  been 
shed  on  the  topic,  and  this  suggests  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  a 
matter  which  is  susceptible  of  any  special  elucidation,  or  one  that  has 
very  important  scintillations  to  diffuse  over  the  matter  of  breeding 
roadsters.  It  has  been  asserted  that  the  thoroughbred  never  paces, 
and  that,  as  a  consequence,  the  discovery  has  an  important  bearing  on 
the  problem  of  breeding  trotters. 

The  simple  fact  is,  that  the  subject  is  a  common-sense  matter  and 
shi-ouded  in  no  such  mystery,  nor  does  it  carry  with  it  so  much 
importance  as  has  been  attributed  to  it.  "Without  going  into  the 
subject  at  great  length,  which  the  space  allotted  to  this  topic  wiU  not 
permit,  I  may  here  say,  that  the  pacers  seem  to  come  in  most  in- 
stances from  highly-bred  families,  and  from  such  parent  stock  have 
inherited  a  nerve  and  brain  organism  or  temperament  that  gives 
them  the  element  of  speed  at  any  gait  they  may  adopt.  Their  speed 
is  an  inherited  element  resting  in  a  nerve  organism  which  com- 
mands a  physical  or  muscular  conformation  adapted  to  and  capable 
of  executing  in  high  degree  the  impulses  of  the  will  that  directs  it. 
The  same  formula  of  expression  will  apply  to  the  trotter,  and  this 
proves  the  identity  of  each  in  all  that  relates  to  physiological  or 
psychological  organism. 

The  pacer,  like  the  trotter,  is  such  in  consequence  of  a  nerve  or 
mental  organism  and  physical  conformation  that  adapt  him  to  that 
particular  way  of  going  in  each  case  respectively.  Both  of  these  are 
the  result  not  of  accident  but  of  use, — employment  and  adaptation, 
having  a  common  origin  in'  the  tastes  or  habits  of  the  employer,  that 

(92) 


OEIGIN   OF  THE   PACEES.  93 

incline  him  to  select  or  prefer  that  way  of  going.  In  my  boyhood 
I  taught  several  saddle  horses  to  pace,  having  lived  in  a  country  where 
the  saddle  horse  was  much  used  and  the  pacing  gait  was  preferred 
to  other  ways  of  going. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  origin  and  process  of  development  of  the 
pacing  families  are  identical  with  or  more  literally  analogous  to  that  of 
the  trotters.  Instead  of  starting  with  the  Morgan,  the  Messenger  and 
the  Bellfounder  families — as  the  trotters  have,  in  large  part,  in  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  parts  of  this  country,  where  the  custom  of  the 
the  people  was  to  drive  rather  than  ride  on  horseback — they  seem 
about  in  equal  proportion  to  have  come  from  Canadians  and  from 
families  descended  from  and  by  kinship  allied  to  the  thoroughbred,  a 
very  large  proportion  indeed  running  back  to  imp.  Diomed — this  latter 
fact,  however,  may  result  from  the  fact  that  so  large  a  share  of  our 
thoroughbred  and  saddle  stock  of  the  Southern  States  are  descended 
from  or  connected  with  that  horse — rather  than  from  any  original 
adaptation  in  particular  for  saddle  purposes.  They  seem  to  have 
been  gradually  developed — as  in  the  case  of  the  trotters — by  the  cus- 
tom of  the  country  to  use  the  saddle  more  than  the  carriage  horse,  and 
to  resort  to  the  blood  of  the  race-horse  for  the  elevation  and  improve- 
ment of  the  saddle  stock  of  the  country.  As  successive  generations 
passed  away  with  successive  resorts  to  the  blood  of  the  racer,  whose 
blood  was  best  adapted  to  the  easy  saddle  gait,  and  at  the  same  time 
crossing  such  upon  the  Canadian  stock,  and  other  mares  best  suited 
to  that  way  of  going,  the  process  of  development  advanced  in  a  path 
precisely  analogous  to  that  pursued  in  the  other  section  of  the  coun- 
try in  the  development  of  the  trotter.  Thus  also  kinship  in  their 
common  ancestry  of  racing  blood  renders  it  in  many  cases  an  easy  task 
to  convert  the  pacer  into  a  trotter  and  even  increase  his  speed;  and 
so  far  as  we  have  had  sufficient  experience  to  engraft  a  trotting  upon 
an  original  pacing  element,  pacing  stallions  with  great  uniformity  pro- 
duce trotting  offspring. 

This  pacing  gait  is  obviously  more  akin  to  the  trotting  gait  than  the 
gallop,  and  hence  it  is  not  a  difficult  matter  in  many  cases  to  convert 
the  pacer  into  the  trotter;  and  for  the  like  reason  the  true  and  natural 
pacer,  vdth  his  even  and  steady  gait,  one  side  at  a  time,  makes  a 
more  steady  and  rehable  trotter  than  the  single  footer  or  racker.  The 
motion  of  the  trotter  is  a  diagonal  one — but  two  feet  move  and  strike 
the  ground  at  the  same  time,  but  on  opposite  sides — whereas  in  the 
pacer  it  is  a  lateral  motion,  one  side  at  a  time,  but  both  feet  on  that  side 


94  THE   PACING   ELEMENT. 

move  aiul  strike  together.  Each  is  alike  foreign  to  the  gallop,  and  each 
is  alike  impelled  by  the  same  brain  or  nerve  impulses  to  refrain  from 
the  gallop — so  they  have  this  one  element  in  common,  and  it  is  easier 
for  them  to  modify  their  way  of  going  in  favor  of  each  other,  than  it 
is  for  them  to  gallop — hence  the  affinity  of  nerve  and  physical  organ- 
ism that  adapts  the  pacer  to  the  trotting  knack,  is  no  great  mj-stery. 
The  pacer  long  bred  in  that  line,  acquires  a  conformation  that  is 
readilv  recognizable,  and  in  it  are  seen  many  of  the  strong  points 
wliich  adapt  him  to  trotting  action  of  the  most  vigorous  kind.  His 
powerful  shoulders  and  quarters,  his  strength  of  back  and  loin,  and 
the  immense  and  sweeping  stride  of  the  hind  leg,  fit  him  for  great 
superiority  of  action.  His  weight  of  shoulder  and  forequarter  is 
often  so  great  as  to  be  against  him;  but  it  gives  him  great  power,  and 
if  he  can  only  keep  on  his  feet,  he  goes  with  a  wonderful  momentum. 
The  pacer  is  generally  a  horse  of  a  powerful  frame,  and  of  superior 
muscular  development. 

In  this  connection  it  may  also  be  observed  that  the  crossing  of  the 
well-bred  trotting  sire  on  the  fast  pacing  mare,  such  as  I  have  described^ 
has  in  so  many  cases  resulted  in  a  fast  trotter  that  it  has  almost  come 
to  be  regarded  as  a  real  phenomenon  in  breeding.  So  many  instances 
of  this  have  occurred  as  to  strongly  commend  this  class  of  mares  as 
suitable  to  mate  with  the  best  of  trotting  stallions.  The  reverse  order 
of  breeding,  while  it  has  produced  some  noted  performers,  is  not 
regarded  as  sufficiently  certain  to  make  pacing  stallions  popular. 

When  the  pacing  habit  has  been  indulged  for  many  generations  it 
becomes  so  fixed,  both  in  mental  or  nerve  organism  and  in  physical 
structure,  as  to  render  it  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  depart  from  it.  The 
form  of  the  so-called  natural  pacer  is  as  striking  and  obvious  to  the 
eye  at  a  glance  as  that  of  any  other  class. 

Some  of  the  Canadian  pacers,  and  among  these  the  Pilots  in  par- 
ticular, assumed  the  trotting  form  and  gait  with  great  readiness 
when  crossed  with  the  other  families — much  more  readily  in  fact  than 
the  Copper-bottoms  and  the  Red-bucks — the  latter  being  the  most 
inveterate  of  all  the  pacers.  Many  of  our  first-class  trotting  families 
who  run  back  to  this  last  cross  show  a  decided  tendency  to  the 
ambling  or  shuffling  gait  of  the  pacer — as  for  example,  the  Swigerts. 

The  earliest  of  the  pacers  was  Highland  JNIaid,  a  mare  that  after- 
ward became  a  trotter  and  was  the  first  to  trot  in  2 :27.  She  was  by 
Saltram,  and  he  was  a  pacec  by  Kentucky  Whip,  dam,  by  Duroc,  son  of 
Diomed. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   PACERS.  95 

Smuo-o-ler,  Pocahontas  and  all  the  Cadmus  family  came  from  Iron's 
Cadmus,  by  Cadmus,  son  of  American  Eclipse — dam  by  Florizel,  a 
son  of  Diorded.  This  Cadmus  family  embraces  several  other  sons  of 
Iron's  Cadmus,  and,  in  addition,  the  stallion  Toronto,  whose  dam  was  a 
daughter  of  the  first  Cadmus.  He  stood  in  Ohio  for  awliile,  and  was 
taken  thence  to  Canada,  where  he  died,  leaving  produce  there  strongly 
resemblino-  the  stock  left  in  Ohio. 

Flora  Belle  was  at  first  a  pacer,  and  possesses  the  pacmg  conformation 
in  marked  degree.  She  was  of  the  Uwharie  stock — a  family  that  is 
in-and-in-bred  in  the  Diomed  blood. 

The  Hiatogas,  another  Ohio  pacing  family,  came  from  a  Virginia 
stock,  the  dam  being  by  Diomed  himself.  The  first  Tuckahoe  found 
in  the  stud-book  is  l^y  Florizel,  son  of  Diomed,  and  this  suggests  the 
origin  of  another  Ohio  family  of  pacers  that  all  came  out  in  the  end 
trotters,  and  form  so  many  crosses  in  pacing  and  trotting  pedigrees. 
The  Blue  Bulls  came  from  a  blue  roan  of  that  name  in  Southern  Ohio, 
and  the  Dun  pacers  of  that  part  of  the  same  State  have  been  so 
numerous  as  to  suggest  that  they  all  had  a  similar  origin.  In  most 
cases  they  are  directly  traceable  to  saddle  horses  of  thoroughbred 
descent  that  came  into  that  State  from  Virginia,  and  leave  little  doubt 
of  the  lines  of  blood  from  which  they  originated. 

The  Columbus  family  came  from  a  horse  from  Canada  that  bore  such 
a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Cadmus  family,  that  were  it  not  that  he 
antedated  their  progenitor  it  would  very  forcibly  suggest  to  our  minds 
that  they  really  were  one  family,  but  owing  to  the  date  of  the  first 
Columbus'  coming  we  are  left  in  ignorance  of  his  probable  origin.  He 
was  a  dark  chestnut  horse,  foaled  about  1830.  He  had  a  white  stripe  in 
his  face,  and  left  hind  foot  white  nearly  to  the  hock.  He  was  15f  hands 
in  height,  and  closely  and  powerfully  built.  He  was  at  first  a  pacer,  but 
afterward  became  a  trotter  and  produced  trotters.  He  did  not  display 
much  of  the  French-Canadian  appearance,  but  had  many  of  their  quali- 
ties. There  is  much  to  indicate  that  he  came  from  a  cross  between  that 
race  and  a  highly-bred  or  more  thoroughbi'ed  stock.  He  came  from  the 
vicinity  of  Montreal — the  place  whence  so  many  have  originated — 
and  a  kinship  with  St.  Lawrence  may  not  have  been  imj^robable.  He 
was  taken  to  Vermont,  and  thence  to  Massachusetts,  and  afterward  to 
New  York.  While  in  Vermont  he  produced  Smith's  Coluraljus,  from 
a  mare  that  was  probably  from  some  branch  of  the  Vermont  Hamble- 
tonian  family — and  the  result  shows  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from 
crossing  these  best  pacers  of  French-Canadian  blood  on  oiu'  best  bred 


96  THE   PACING   ELEMENT. 

trottina:  stock.  Smith's  Columbus  is  sire  of  many  roadsters  and  trot- 
ters,  and  has  six  within  the  2:30  list,  as  follows:  Ben  Smith,  2:38|-; 
Commodore  Vanderbilt,  2:35;  Harry  Harley,  2:25f ;  M\Ton  Perry, 
2:24^,  a  veteran  of  twenty-four  heats;  Phil  Sheridan,  2:36-^;  Sea 
Foam,  with  twenty-one  heats  and  a  record  of  2:26.  A  truly  credita- 
ble list.  He  is  a  bay  horse,  foaled  1852;  his  dam  was  Black  Maria,  a  fast 
trotting  mare,  bred  in  Vermont  and  by  some  claimed  to  be  a  daughter 
of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  the  next  dam  being  a  large  grey  mare  of 
unknown  blood.  He  is  owned  by  W.  W.  Smith,  of  Mechanicsville, 
Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y. 

This  is  a  record  that  few  stallions  outside  of  the  most  popular 
families  could  have  attained.  He  is  a  trotter  himself,  but  bis  family 
having  no  gi-eat  antecedent  reputation  as  producers  of  trotters,  he  had 
no  such  reputation  to  secure  him  the  best  of  mares.  With  him  success 
brought  reputation.  However,  the  success  of  the  family  does  not 
stop  here. 

Phil  Sheridan,  son  of  the  last  named  Columbus,  was  foaled  in  1863. 
His  dam  was  a  large,  strong,  black  mare  called  Black  Fly,  bred  in 
Canada,  and  by  a  son  of  Tippoo,  grandam  also  bred  in  Canada  by 
a  son  of  Black  Jack. 

Phil  Sheridan  was  bred  and  is  owned  by  Robert  Dalzell.  Waddins-- 
ton,  N.  Y.  He  has  to  his  credit  the  following  :  Adelaide,  2.21-2-,  with 
39  heats  in  2.30  or  better;  Commonwealth,  2,22,  and  25  heats;  Hiram 
Woodruff,  2:25,  and  9  heats;  Tom  Malloy,  2:27.  To  this  family, 
thus  starting  on  the  successful  highway  toward  distinction,  we  may 
look  for  an  excellent  cross  for  some  of  our  other  highly-bred  trotting 
families.  Two  such  stallions  from  such  a  quarter  are  a  promise  of  a 
successful  career  to  the  family. 

Occident,  a  trotter,  was  a  grandson  of  St.  Clair,  a  brown  horse  that 
paced  in  2:35,  and  of  his  blood  nothing  is  known,  but  the  number 
and  quality  of  the  pacers  and  trotters  descended  from  him  go  far  to 
show  that  he  had  some  quality  himself. 

The  Copper-bottoms  were  about  the  earliest  of  the  Kentucky  pacers, 
and  probably  came  from  one  of  that  name  that  was  a  Canadian;  and 
the  Pilots,  Tom  Crowder,  the  Red-bucks,  Daniel  Booue,  Davy  Crock- 
ett, Drennon,  Canadian  Chief  and  the  other  Crocketts,  and  Corbeaus, 
were  doubtless  all  of  Canadian  origin.  The  readiness  with  which 
all  of  these  crossed  with  the  part-bred  saddle  horses  descended 
from  the  thoroughbred  families,  is  as  noteworthy  as  the  further 
fact  in  breeding,  which  has  recently  assumed  so  much  importance, 


RECORD    OF   SPEED.   ....  97., 

that  they  all  cross  with  equal  facility,  and  in  many  cases  with 
very  valuable  results,  with  the  best  bred  trotting  stallions  of  the 
country.  The  reason  for  all  this  is  apparent  in  the  fact  that,  by  edu- 
cation and  long  use,  they  have  become  adapted,  both  in  nerve  or 
mental  organism  and  in  physical  conformation,  to  a  way  of  going  that 
involves  muscular  and  mechanical  action  at  variance  with  that  of  the 
running  or  galloping  horse. 

The  high  rate  of  speed  displayed  by  many  members  of  the  pacing 
families,  both  at  the  pace  and  the  trot,  deserves  notice. 

It  was  said  that  old  black  Pilot  paced  a  mile  in  2:26.  Billy  Boycc, 
a  son  of  Corbeau,  attained  a  record  of  2:14.  Pocahontas  made  a 
record  of  2:17^,  but  was  known  to  be  abte  to  go  much  faster.  Old 
Indiana  Red-buck  was  reputed  to  have  paced  under  2:20. 

In  1875,  the  record  showed  twenty-seven  pacers  with  2:30  and  bet- 
ter, and  several  2:20  and  below. 

In  1877,  the  record  showed  twenty-eight  performers  with  2:30  and 
better,  and  one  2:16,  one  2:18,  and  another  2:19. 

Among  the  trotters  from  pacing  families,  Smuggler  has  a  record  of 
2:15^;    Red    Cloud,   by   Legal   Tender,   he   a  son   of   Moody's  Davy. 
Crockett,  2:18;  Mazomanie,  2:20^;  Kansas  Chief,  2:21^;  Flora  Belle, 
2:22f ;   in  addition  to  the  several   members  of  the  Columbus  family, 
as  above  set  forth. 

But  the  most  distinguished  record  has  been  made  by  the  produce  of 
Wilson's  Blue  Bull.  The  record  shows:  Richard,  2:21^;  Elsie  Good, 
2:23^;  and,  in  addition  to  the  record  of  the  foregoing,  Russell  is  cred- 
ited with  2:26;  Milla  C,  2:2G|;  Bertie,  2:27;  Kate  Bennett,  2:29^; 
Purity,  2:30;  Ed  Wilder,  2:30;  Ella  Wilson,  2:30;  James  L.,  2:32; 
Little  Wonder,  2:30 — these  latter  being  taken  from  a  statement,  in 
1876,  alleging  that  the  produce  of  Blue  Bull  had  trotted  thirty-seven 
heats  in  2:30  and  better,  and  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  heats  in  2:40 
and  better.  The  record  now  shows  sixty-four  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 
This,  it  must  be  conceded,  places  them  in  the  front  rank  of  fcrottino* 
families. 

The  pacer,  St.  Clair,  was  a  horse  classed  as  a  Canadian.  He 
appeared  somewhere  about  Detroirt,  and  was  taken  to  California.  He 
was  a  horse  of  very  considerable  quality,  and  has  shown  in  his  pro- 
duce that  he  was  endowed  with  a  high  degree  of  speed.  He  is  cred- 
ited with  Lady  St.  Clair,  a  pacer  with  a  record  of  2:24,  and  eleven 
heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

He  also  was  sire  of  the  horse   called  Doc,  that  produced  the  Cali- 


98  TlIE  PACING   ELEMENT. 

fornia  trotter  Occident,  which  at  one  time  was  a  very  formidable 
competitor  of  Goldsmith  Maid.  Occident  has  a  record  of  2:16f,  and 
twenty-three  heats  in  3:30  or  better. 

One  of  the  best  trotters  now  on  the  turf  is  the  horse  Mazomanie, 
by  the  Kurtz  horse,  a  son  of  Paul  Jones,  a  pacer.  His  record  is 
3:20^,  and  thirty -three  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  still  in  the  midst 
of  a  career  of  great  promise.  The  Kurtz  horse  has  also  Red  Dick, 
2:28,  and  four  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  This  Paul  Jones  is  the  full 
brother  of  Smith's  Columbus. 

The  Hiatoga  family  is  one  that  is  entitled  to  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  They  have  grown  up  in  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Central  Ohio, 
and  are  now  attracting  much  attention  as  a  family  that  has  assumed  as 
near  a  fixed  type  as  any  pacers  known  to  the  public,  this  latter  fact 
resulting  from  having  been  long  used  as  pacers  and  interbred  in  the 
same  general  lines  of  blood. 

The  first  of  these  was  a  Virginia  horse  taken  to  Kentucky  in  1822. 
He  was  foaled  in  1815,  was  a  roan  horse,  and  his  pedigree  is  given  as 
by  Col.  Stephen  Crutchfield's  Hiatoga,  son  of  Rordell's  Hiatoga, 
that  was  also  taken  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  when  aged.  His  dam 
was  Virginia  by  imported  Diomed.  He  was  bred  in  Caroline  county, 
and  stood  in  Caroline  and  Albemarle.  He  went  to  Kentucky  and  was 
kept  at  or  near  Lexington.  To  those  who  suggest  he  was  a  descend- 
ant of  the  little  sorrel  Narragansatt,  I  will  say  he  was  a  roan,  and 
sixteen  hands  one  inch  high.  He  was  a  pacer.  At  a  still  later 
period,  the  date  not  given,  there  was  in  Virginia  another  Hiatoga,  a 
pacer,  called  American  Hiatoga.  A  son  of  American  Hiatoga  was 
taken  to  Fairfield  county,  Ohio,  by  Edward  Rice.  He  was  bred  in 
Rockingham  county,  Virginia.  He  was  a  fast  pacer  and  spent  the 
great  part  of  his  life  in  Ohio,  dying  there;  owned  by  Wm.  Munger. 
He  was  generally  called  Rice's  Hiatoga. 

Old  Togue,  as  he  was  called,  was  another  Hiatoga,  and  he  was  by 
Rice's  Hiatoga.  He  was  foaled  in  1843.  His  dam  was  by  Thunder- 
bolt, grandam  by  Black  Rover.  He  was  owned  in  Central  Ohio,  in 
Perry,  Licking  and  Fairfield  counties,  and  died  at  Columbus   in  1871. 

Hanley's  Hiatoga  was  a  bay  horse,  foaled  1849,  by  Rice's  Hiatoga, 
dam  Tahnadge's  Firetail.  He  was  kept  mainly  in  Harrison  and  Bel- 
mont counties,  Ohio,  and  was  both  a  pacer  and  trotter.  He  died  in 
1858. 

Scott's  Hiatoga  was  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the  family,  as  a 
pacer  and  sire  of  both   pacers  and  trotters.      He  was  by  Hanley's 


niATOGAS   AND  TYRONE.  99 

Hiatoga,  and  his  dam  was  by  Blind  Tuckahoe,  the  pacer,  grandam  by 
Consul.  He  was  also  called  Tuscarawas  Chief.  He  was  bred  and 
owned  by  Sam'l  Scott,  of  Jefferson  county,  Ohio,  and  was  foaled 
1858.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  pedigree  given  for  Smuggler  makes 
his  dam  a  daughter  of  Blind  Tuckahoe. 

This  is  a  family  or  stock  of  horses  that  have  been  known  in  Ohio 
from  the  earliest  period  of  its  history.  The  horses  of  that  State  in 
the  early  day  were  the  common  stock  of  the  country,  brought  from 
all  parts,  and  particularly  from  Virginia,  with  the  early  settlers,  and 
■were  of  the  same  stock  then  used  in  Virginia,  mostly  such  as  could 
be  used  both  as  work  or  team  horses,  and  at  the  same  time  accus- 
tomed to  going  under  the  saddle.  Thoroughbred  stallions,  or  highly 
bred  part-bred  horses,  were  in  use  in  Ohio  from  the  earliest  days. 
Starting  with  such  original  elements  of  blood,  use  and  occupation 
fixed  the  character  of  the  horses  that  came  afterward. 

The  descendants  of  Cadmus,  the  son  of  American  Eclipse,  all  show 
the  form  of  the  pacer  and  his  characteristics  at  this  day  as  clearly  as 
does  Smuggler. 

Hanley's  Hiatoga  has  given  quite  a  number  of  performers  to  the 
trotting  turf,  and  has  to  his  credit  particularly.  Grand  Duchess,  with 
record  of  2:26^,  and  six  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  and  Twang,  2:38;|-. 
Orand  Duchess  is  also  dam  of  the  famous  filly  Galatea,  which,  as  a 
four-year-old,  trotted  in  2:25^. 

Scott's  Hiatoga  has  to  his  credit  Kate  Campbell,  2:25^,  and  seven 
heats  in  2:30;  and  Lew  Scott,  with  record  of  2:23^,  and  twenty-one 
heats  in  2:30  or  better,  at  the  close  of  1877.  but  is  now  on  the  turf, 
and  has  already  added  to  his  record  standing.  He  is  a  very  promising 
and  excellent  trotter,  and  may  yet  add  to  the  lustre  of  the  family 
name.  Scott's  Hiatoga  has  also  produced  some  very  fast  pacers  that 
do  not  trot,  which  shows  that  the  element  of  speed  exists  in  the 
family  at  either  gait.  He  has  Sorrel  Billy,  2:20;  Maria  Scott,  2:24; 
Flora  Hamel,  2:19f ;  Kitty  Wirt,  2:31;   and  Cadiz,  2:32i. 

TYRONE. 

Scott's  Hiatoga  is  the  sire  of  the  in-bred  pacing  stallion  Tyrone, 
whose  breeding  and  form  calls  for  a  special  notice. 

His  dam  was  Meg  Scott,  by  Scott's  Hiatoga.  This  is  a  degree  of 
close  in-breeding  which  I  will  not  indorse,  but  it  is  a  guaranty  that 
this  horse  will  be  of  no  doubtful  type.  He  was  foaled  in  1873.  He 
is  a  natural  pacer,  as  might  be  expected,  and  shows  very  high  form 


100  TiiE.?4ciwa  Ei^EM^^firrUrf 

a,ncj  qualities  that  give  evidenoe  that  he  will  display  p^reat  positiveness 
and  excellence ,  1^  a,  sire.  JJe.  is  a  dark  chestnut,  with  a  greaf  whita 
face, , and  three  white  legs  tQ  the  knee  and  hock  and  one  white  to  tho 
8.nkle.  His  mane  ^nd  tail  light  in  cplor,  but  of, fair  qu^^ntity.  He 
was  bred  by  Samuel  Scott,  of  Jefferson  county,  Ohio,  and  was  sold  as 
a  weanling  to  Q,  M.  Hoover,  Bradford,  Ohio,  and  has  recently  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Dr.  H.  B.Dale,  of  Oshkosh,  Wisconsin,  There  is 
probably  nq  such  concentration  of  pacing  blood  to  be  found  in  the 
entire  country. 

Since  the  foregoing  and  a  large  of  the  succeeding  pages  of  this 
work  were  in  type  and  .  plates,  I  have  discovered  a  lengthy  but  noji 
very  lucid  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  pacers,  in  a  periodical 
devoted  to  equine  literp,ture,  which  I  deem  proper  to  notice  in  this 
chapter.  The  matter  referred  to  forms  a  part  of  a  series  of  chapters, 
only  fragmentary  parts  of  which  I  have  read — a  fact  which  I  must 
confess,  although  admitting  that  it  is  not  one  which  is  highly  <X)mpli- 
mentary  to  the  author. 

In  this  dissertation  the  subject  is  treated  as  one  newly  discovered 
and  the  importance  of  which  is  only  equaled  by  the  light  thus  for  the 
first  time  shed  upon  it.  In  a  disjointed  and  hasty  way  I  have  read 
some  of  these  pages — they  are  many — but  I  failed  to  see  their  highly 
im]")ortant  bearing  on  the  subject  of  breeding  trotters,  or  the  intense 
light  that  is  thereby  supposed  to  be  shed  on  the  problem  in  hand. 

It  appears  to  have  been  discovered  very  recently,  on  the  authority 
of  some  very  ancient  writers,  that  the  pacers  belong  to  a  very  old 
stock,  and  one  of  those  writers,  in  a  history  written  in  the  Latin 
language — '•'•Horse  Latln^''  I  suppose — ^gives  the  information  that  at 
the  early  period  in  which  he  wrote,  the  horses  of  the  locality  by  him 
referred  to  "  do  not  trot^  hut  amble,  and  yet  neither  trotters  nor 
amblers  are  stronr/est — as  strength  is  not  alwai/s  incident  to  that 
which  is  gentle  or  less  courageous.'''' 

From  this  ancient  writer  it  is  shown  that  the  origin  of  the  pacers 
antedated  that  period,  although  the  question  whether  the  antediluvian 
stock  which  came  down  the  slope  of  Mt.  Ararat  was  a  pacer  is  not 
settled  by  this  scrap  of  "  Horse  f  jatin."  But  in  the  discussion  to 
which  I  refer,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  one  point,  and  the  only 
one  mad(>  clear,  is  the  antiquity  of  the  race. 

It  is  furthermore,  after  the  most  exhaustive  research,  found  that  the 
pacers  came  to  this  continent  in  the  earliest  period  of  its  history.  In 
the  same  connection,  it  is  shown  that  a  current  tradition  prevails  in 


AMBLERS   OF   ANTIQUITY,  101 

many  parts,  that  the  pacers  were  imported  from  Andalusia,  but  this  is 
successfully  refuted  by  the  known  fact  that  the  Spanish  horse  was  a 
Barb  or  Arab,  and  they  never  pace.  It  is  however  finally  established 
that  the  Narragansett  pacer  was  the  animal  originally  gifted  with  the 
lateral  gait,  and  that  if  he  did  not  come  down  the  mountain  with  the 
early  Navigator^he  at  least  was  the  "  ambler  "  to  which  the  vn-iter  in 
the  ancient  dialect  referred,  and  this  is  shown  further  by  the  writings 
of  sundry  eminent  clergymen  who  lived  on  this  continent  in  the  days 
when  people  rode  in  the  saddle  from  Rhode  Island  to  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas  to  attend  to  the  everyday  affairs  of  life.  One  of  these 
reverend  gentlemen  informs  us  that  the  products  of  this  colony 
(Rhode  Island)  were  at  that  time  principally  butter  and  cheese,  fat 
cattle,  wool,  and  fine  horses,  which  were  exported  to  all  parts  of 
English  America.  He  then  tells  us  of  the  fleetness  of  these  little 
steeds,  and  says  he  "  has  seen  some  of  them  pace  a  mile  in  a  little 
more  than  two  minutes  and  a  good  deal  less  than  three  minutes.^'' 

I  know  that  it  will  aptly  enough  be  supposed  by  some  that  this  gen- 
tleman, from  his  professional  habits  of  life,  was  not  well  acquainted  with 
the  actual  rate  of  speed  at  which  a  pacer  traveled,  never  having  held  a 
watch  over  him  on  a  mile  track,  and  moreover,  was  in  the  habit  of  plac- 
ing entire  and  unsuspecting  confidence  in  the  statements  of  owners  and 
drivers,  and  it  may  be  that  in  his  day  these  gentlemen  belonged  to 
the  class  of  well  known  and  perfectly  reliable  men,  but  if  we  are  to 
be  allowed  to  judge  of  them  by  many  of  their  descendants  in  the 
direct  line,  in  our  day,  we  are  prepared  to  properly  estimate  this  state- 
ment as  a  little  too  high  for  one  of  the  ancient  amblers.  But  as  it 
comes  out  that  the  fact  of  the  Narragansett  pacer,  and  his  incredible 
speed,  is  not  nearly  so  much  of  a  myth  or  fable  to  the  minds  of  some 
learned  people  as  the  legend  of  the  Norfolk  trotter,  and  his  seventeen 
and  a  half  miles  in  an  hour,  on  this  high  authority  we  are  compelled 
to  accept  of  the  fact  as  given  to  us,  that  there  was  such  a  breed  as 
the  Narragansetts,  and  that  they  were  a  fast  and  easy-going  saddle 
family.  In  the  present  day  I  think  no  one  will  be  found  to  question 
the  suggestion.  Another  writer,  a  Swedish  pastor,  is  quoted,  who 
makes  the  matter  more  clear,  by  the  statement  that  the  horses  in 
America  are  real  ponies,  a?id  are  seldom  found  over  sixteen  hands 
high.  Nevertheless  I  can  not  so  readily  jump  at  the  conclusion  that 
these  Narragansette  are  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  ancient 
"amblers,"  described  in  the  Vulgate  tongue  of  Polydore  Virgil, 
whom  we  may  reasonably  suppose  to  have  been  a  near  relative  of 


102  THE   PACING   ELEMENT. 

the  man  of  similar  name,  who  wrote  the  "  Bucolics;"  and  while  I  do 
not  remember  that  this  well  known  writer  hinted  that  those  little 
fellows,  not  over  sixteen  hands  high,  would  ever  amble  to  our  shores, 
I  remember  one  couplet  in  his  Vulgate  Bucolics  that  ran  about  thus; 

Qui  legitis  flores  et  humi  nascentia  fraga, 
Frigidus,  o  pueri,  fugite  huic,  latet  anguis  in  herba. 

Which,  on  a  close  study  and  explanation,  will  reveal  quite  as  much 
light  on  this  question  of  the  antiquity  and  identity  of  the  pacing 
family,  and  its  importance  to  the  problem  of  breeding  trotters  as  the 
scraps  gathered  from  the  "  Horse  Latin, "  above  referred  to. 

The  learned  author  above  quoted,  adverts  to  the  many  traditional 
accounts  relating  to  the  origin  of  these  Narragansetts  and  other  pacers, 
among  others,  to  the  highly  interesting  story  of  the  horse  that  was 
seen  in  mid-ocean  swimming — I  suppose  after  the  way  of  the  pacei-^ 
with  a  lateral  motion,  one  side  at  a  time — also  to  the  celebrated  account 
given  by  Rip  Van  Dam,  a  writer  who  flourished  at  a  later  period  than 
the  Vulgate  Bucolic,  above  referred  to,  and  who  wrote  of  a  horse  that 
jumped  from  a  sloop,  and  swam  ashore,  from  a  point  far  distant 
from  anywhere.  He  also  warily  refers  to  the  legend  lately  given 
in  regard  to  the  origin  of  old  Tippoo,  the  founder  of  the  Royal 
Georges,  whose  real  paternity  was  said  to  have  swam  ashore  from  a 
shipwrecked  vessel,  and  landed  on  an  inhospitable  shore,  where  he 
subsisted  on  nothing  but  seaweed  for  a  long  space  of  time.  The 
learned  author  reviews  and  rejects  mainly  all  of  these  traditions,  and 
advances  the  conclusion,  in  substance,  that  the  ancient  amblers  seen 
by  the  Vulgate  Bucolic,  were  the  originals  of  the  Narragansetts,  and 
that  in  them  they  have  scattered  from  Rhode  Island  to  Virginia,  and 
thence  all  over  the  continent,  and  that  Smuggler  and  all  the  great 
Hiatogas  and  Blue  Bulls  of  our  day,  are  the  representatives  of  the 
oldest  breed  of  horses  known  to  our  civilization. 

In  speaking  of  the  disappearance  of  the  pacers  in  the  older  States 
of  the  East,  the  learned  author  says: 

They  were  first  secured  by  the  more  wealthy  at  the  centres  of  population 
and  business,  and,  aside  from  their  use  for  sporting  purposes,  they  were 
considered  a  necessity  for  comfort  and  ease  in  journeys,  whether  long  or 
short.  The  condition  of  roads  and  streams  admitted  of  no  means  of  travel, 
except  on  foot  or  on  horseback.  As  roads  and  bridges,  -jvcre  constructed,  the 
little  pacing  horse  was  qot  well  adapted  to  pull  the  family  carriage  or  two  men 
■  in  a  buggy,  and  he  was  pushed  out  a  little  to  where  he  was  a  necessity.  The 
area  of  good  roads,  occupied  by  wheels,  kept  ever  widening,  and  ke^t  ever 


MYSTERY   DISSOLVING.  103 

pushing  the  pacer  before  it,  till  we  find  him  only  in  a  new  country,  surrounded 
with  the  same  conditions  in  which  his  early  history  first  began  to  develop  on 
this  continent.  There  he  is  still  found  carrying  his  master  over  bad  roads  and 
bridgeless  streams  in  comfort  and  safety. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  again  call  attention  to  the  truths  of  the  laws  of  heredity 
in  habits  of  action  as  well  as  in  other  characteristics,  as  that  topic  has  already 
been  treated  exhaustively  in  preceding  chapters. 

From  the  facts  given  above,  we  can  hardly  err  in  the  conclusion  that  from, 
say,  the  middle  of  the  last  century  till  the  opening  of  the  Revolution,  the 
dominant  pacing  blood  was  the  blood  of  the  Narragansett.  It  then  follows 
that  the  blood  that  was  pushed  back  into  the  woods,  and  there  kept  repro- 
ducing itself,  was  Narragansett  blood.  If  this  were  so  in  the  first  fifty  miles 
of  improvement,  it  would  be  so  in  five  hundred ;  and  if  it  were  so  for  a  single 
generation,  it  would  be  so  in  all  succeeding  ones.  According  to  this  method 
of  reasoning,  therefore — and  we  can  see  nothing  unfair  in  it — wherever  the 
pacer  is  found,  the  presumption  is,  he  inherits  his  habits  of  action  from  his 
Narragansett  ancestor.  As  already  intimated,  this  conclusion  does  not  rest 
upon  statistics  or  records,  which  are  the  safest  of  all  data,  but  upon  reasonable 
deductions  from  a  few  known  facts. 

The  author  further  proceeds  to  argue  that  the  so-called  Canadian 
pacer  is  a  myth,  that  Pilot  and  all  the  known  pacers  which  have 
assumed  a  position  in  the  trotting  pedigrees  came  from  this  same 
Narragansett  stock. 

If  I  am  forced  to  adopt  either  of  these  opinions  relating  to  the 
origin  of  our  great  pacers  of  the  present  day,  I  confess  I  feel  like 
taking  my  choice,  and  this  will  be,  that  if  our  pacers  did  not  come  from 
the  steed  that  was  seen  in  mid-ocean,  ambling  one  side  at  a  time,  (foi 
admitting  that  he  reached  the  shore,  the  prepotency  of  the  race  is 
established)  he  did  originate  and  still  continues  to  appear  on  our  own 
soil,  as  circumstances  and  surroundings  give  occasion  for  adopting  his 
"way  of  going. 

The  account  given  for  the  loss  and  disappearance  of  the  Narragan- 
setts,  is  equally  mythical — that  they  were  so  highly  prized  in  Cuba, 
Virginia  and  elsewhere,  that  the  demand  exhausted  the  supply.  This 
does  not  do  full  credit  to  the  usual  sagacity  and  foresight  of  our 
Yankee  forefathers.  The  learned  author,  however,  does  suggest  some 
things,  which,  to  my  mind,  relieve  the  subject  of  much  of  the  appar- 
ent mystery  in  which  we  would  suppose  he  found  it.     He  says  : 

We  find  the  pacer  has  vanished,  not  only  from  the  little  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  but  from  all  the  States  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Occasionally  one 
comes  to  light  in  this  region,  but  the  rule  is,  there  are  none;  and  when  an 
exceptional  case  appears,  it  can  be  traced  to  a  border  origin.  The  same 
effects  have  been   produced   in    England,    and   in   even   a  more   complete 


104  TJIE   PACING   ELEMENT. 

and  unexceptional  degree.  From  the  "  great  company "  of  pacers  that 
Polydore  and  Purchas  saw  there,  none  are  left.  The  pacing  horse  is  no 
longer  known  in  England,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  convince  an  English 
horseman  that  it  was  a  quality  that  was  inheritable  and  transmissible. 

But  the  pacing  horse  is  still  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  this  country,  and 
with  New  York  as  the  centre,  the  segment  of  a  circle  commencing  in  Maine, 
and  sweeping  through  Canada,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  we 
will,  all  along  that  line,  find  pacers  in  greater  or  less  numbers.  The  same 
law  which  banished  them  from  the  older  portions  of  tlie  country,  with  their 
fine  roads,  preserved  them  on  the  borders,  where  wheels  were  not  available. 
The  place  of  the  pacer  is  new,  wooded  countries.  He  never  flourished  on 
the  prairies,  and  never  will;  the  luxury  of  wh 3els  is  too  easily  available. 
Only  six  or  eight  years  ago  half  the  trotting-men  in  tlie  East  hardly  compre- 
hended what  a  pacing  race  was,  and  when  they  oftered  purses  for  pacers  in 
Indiana,  they  were  disposed  to  be  indignant.  Thus,  from  the  apex  of  popu- 
larity and  fashion,  the  pacer  has  disappeared  from  England  altogether,  and 
on  this  continent  he  has  been  banished  to  the  border  life,  midway  between 
luxury  and  refinement  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  red  man  and  the  hunter  on 
the  other;  and  never,  till  this  year  of  grace,  has  there  been  an  attempt  to  do 
him  justice. 

While  the  mystery  of  their  origin  is  not  greatly  relieved,  that  of 
their  disappearance  has  disappeared  with  them.  When  the  circum- 
stances and  condition  of  the  people  of  the  several  countries  was  so 
far  changed  that  they  had  no  use  for  the  easy  saddle  gaits,  and  when 
the  demand  for  the  horse  that  could  go  in  light  carriages  rather  than 
under  the  saddle  arose,  then  very  soon  the  pacer — Narragansett,  or 
whatever  he  was — disappeared,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  trotting 
horse.  That  is  the  simple  statement  that  gives  the  fact  and  the  cause 
of  his  disappearance.  He  disappeared  when  his  owner  no  longer  had 
any  use  for  him — he  became  a  trotter  when  the  wants  of  his  owner 
called  for  one.  The  wants  of  the  owner  shape  the  character  of  the 
horse  that  he  uses;  and  it  is  found  that  he  can  make  a  pacer  in  four 
generations,  and  can  in  a  single  one  unmake  him  and  restore  him  to 
the  ways  of  a  trotter;  and  it  finally  comes  to  this,  that  the  pacer  is 
the  horse  of  easy  saddle  gait,  always  found  and  aboundijig  in  the 
newly  settled  countries  where  bad  roads  abound,  and  where  it  is  easier 
to  ride  in  the  saddle  than. in  wheeled  vehicles. 

The  subject,  like  some  others,  is  one  of  difficulty  to  the  learned 
author,  and  he  is  entitled  to  the  sympathy  of  all  those  who,  like  my- 
self, have  learned  of  horses  from  actual  use  and  familiarity  with  them. 
jHe  who  learns  it  only  from  the  papers  and  books,  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
many  thinkers  and  writers,  so  often  referred  to,  finds  many  difficult 
problems  in  his  way.     From  my  childhood  I  have  been  accustomed  to 


EXPERIENCE    VERSUS   SURMISE.  105 

horses,  mostly  saddle  horsos ;  I  have  lived  in  new  countries,  where 
the  Indians  were  more  numerous  than  the  white  people.  With  them 
and  the  early  settlers,  the  pacer  was  the  saddle  horse  par  excellence. 
I  have  taught  many  of  them  that  gait,  ponies  as  well  as  horses.  I 
have  some  now,  and  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  teach  them  the  pacing 
gait,  and  have  them  go  at  both  gaits.  Whoever  has  lived,  as  I  have, 
in  such  localities,  knows  that  a  good  pacer  is  valued  above  all  others 
for  saddle  purposes,  and  that  a  pony  or  half-bred  pony  which  was  a 
trotter  can  be  readily  taught  the  other  gait,  and  that  once  they  have 
acquired  it  they  grow  into  that  form  and  reproduce  it  in  their  own  off- 
spring, and  further,  that  as  carriages  come  into  use,  all  such  horses 
when  used  in  harness  adopt  the  trotting  gait  and  yet  adhere  to  the 
pace  when  under  the  saddle,  until  long  use  at  either  has  confirmed  the 
one  and  lost  the  other. 

In  East  Tennessee  and  Virginia  the  people  all  ride  in  the  saddle, 
tnale  and  female;  their  horses  usually  show  both  gaits,  and  I  have 
found  in  East  Tennessee  the  most  of  the  stock  are  called  Sir  Charles, 
and  are  from  stallions  that  trace  back  to  Sir  Charles,  son  of  Sir  Archy. 
Such  is  the  origin  of  many  of  the  highly  bred  pacers,  some  are  of 
•Canadian  blood  beyond  doubt,  but  the  origin  of  the  pacing  habit  in 
either  case  was  the  same,  a  matter  of  no  great  mystery. 

The  Canadian  horses  belong  to  a  stock  that  have  a  clear  and  unmis- 
takable origin,  and  the  dim  thread  of  history  or  tradition  which  has 
followed  them  agrees  perfectly  with  what  we  know  of  the  aetual 
influences  which  have  operated  upon  them.  But  it  is  a  fact  well  known 
to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  genuine  Canadians  that  they  em- 
brace both  pacers  and  trotters.  They  have  pacers  among  them,  as 
there  are  in  all  countries  which  are  similarly  situated,  but  there  is 
■  abundant  reason  to  believe  that,  pacers  or  trotters,  they  have  descended 
from  the  same  original  stock. 

The  principle  and  the  reason  of  the  adaptation  of  the  paoer  to  the 
trotting  gait  I  have  already  explained.  By  experience  and  practice, 
by  use  and  employment,  he  has  acquired  a  physical  conformation  and 
a.  psychological  organism  that  adapts  and  inclines  him  to  go  at  a  way 
that  is  the  farthest  removed  from  the  gallop — he  takes  to  either  the 
pace  or  the  trot  in  preference  to  the  running  gait. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING    BLOOD. 


IMPORTED  MESSENGER. 

The  most  valuable  domestic  animal  ever  brought  to  our  shores,  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  the  world  has  ever  produced,  was 
the  horse  Imported  Messenger.  His  ancestry  possessed  a  character 
which,  for  the  great  and  peculiar  elements  that  constituted  their  celeb- 
rity, was  as  remarkable  as  have  been  the  qualities  for  which  his 
descendants  have  been  distinguished  in  all  generations.  He  was  an 
in-bred  horse  to  some  degree,  and  his  progenitors  from  the  earliest 
period  to  his  great-grandson,  with  one  probable  exception,  embraced 
a  union  of  the  best,  the  purest  and  richest  blood  that  could  be  found 
in  the  early  English  race-horse,  freshly  descended  from  the  best  Arabs 
and  Barbs  that  were  ever  brought  to  that  kingdom.  His  great-grand- 
sire,  his  grandsire,  and  his  sire,  presented  a  conformation  and  exhibited 
(jualities  totally  unlike  in  some  respects  their  reputed  ancestry,  but 
coupled  with  a  capacity  for  great  performance  in  no  way  inferior  to  or 
unworthy  of  their  high  origin.  His  pedigree  stands  recorded  in  the 
English  stud-book,  as  follows: 

Messenger  Grey  Horse,  foaled  in  1780,  by  Mambrino. 

First  dam,  by  Turf.  Sixth  dam,  by  New  Castle  Turk. 

Second  dam,  sister  to  Figurante,  by  Seventh  dam,  by  Byerly  Turk. 

Regulus.  Eighth  dam,  by  Taffolct  Barb. 

Third  dam,  by  Bolton  Starling.  Ninth  dam,  by  Place's  White  Turk, 
Fourth  dam.  Snaps  dam  by  Fox.  out  of  a  natural  Barb  mare. 

Fifth  dam,  Gipsey  by  Bay  Bolton. 

Has  male  ancestry  might  also  be  set  forth  in  like  manner,  as  followc: 

First  sire,  Mambrino.  (And  according  to  the  stud-book) 

Second  sire.  Engineer.  Fourth  sire.  Blaze. 

Tliird  sire,  Sampson.  Fifth  sire,  Flying  Childcrs. 

Sixth  sire,  Darley  Arabian. 

(106) 


IMPORTED  MESSENGER.  •         107 

His  dam's  paternal  ancestry  would  likewise  be  as  follows: 

First  sire,  Turf,  by  Matchem,  by  Cade,  a  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian; 
Cade  occurs  twice  in  the  pedig-ree  of  Messenger;  second  dam's  sire 
was  Regulus,  son  of  Godolphin  Arabian. 

Goldopliin  Arabian  appears  in  the  pedigree  three  times,  and  was 
one  of  the  early  horses  that  gave  character  to  the  English  thorough- 
bred. He  was  the  most  distinguished  animal  in  the  history  of  the 
early  English  stud,  and  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  have  done  more  to 
improve  the  English  race-horse  than  any  other  animal  before  or  since. 
He  and  the  Darley  Arabian  are  often  spoken  of  as  the  founders  or 
first  progenitors  of  the  English  thoroughbred,  but  very  erroneously,  as 
will  be  seen  from  the  pedigree  of  Flying  Childers,  a  son  of  the  Darley 
Arabian.  Flying  Childers  was  the  wonder  of  the  early  English  turf, 
and  the  history  of  his  exploits  as  related,  can  hardly  be  esteemed  any- 
thing short  of  fabulous.  His  pedigree  embraced  six  generations  of  the 
purest  blood  of  the  desert,  and  his  sire  has  been  regarded  as  the  type 
and  perfection  of  equine  beauty.  A  close  study  of  the  several  and 
respective  pedigrees  of  all  the  animals  named  in  the  foregoing  enum- 
eration, shows  that  they  were  all  in-bred  in  the  blood  of  the  early 
imported  Arabs  and  Barbs,  but  in  hardly  any  case  in  so  close  degree 
as  to  be  regarded  objectionable,  according  to  the  principles  laid  down 
in  Chapter  1.  The  list  embraces  the  most  distinguished  performers 
on  the  English  turf,  and  almost  every  animal  named  was  of  great 
merit,  either  as  a  great  racer  or  the  progenitor  of  raoe-horses. 

Of  Darley  Arabian  and  Godolphin  Arabian  I  have  spoken,  and  of 
Flying  Childers.  The  latter  was  the  sire  of  Blaze,  a  distinguished 
race-horse  and  winner  of  many  prizes.  He  is  credited  as  being  the 
sire  of  Sampson,  the  point  in  the  recorded  pedigree  of  Messenger,  the 
most  difficult  to  comprehend  in  the  origin  of  the  qualities  displayed 
and  for  so  many  generations  transmitted  in  very  wonderful  degree. 
On  the  dam's  side,  the  pedigree  of  Messenger  is  in  no  respect  different, 
from  the  horses  above  named,  prior  to  Sampson.  Turf,  Matchem  and 
Regulus  were  successful  race-horses  and  sires,  and  Cade  was  success- 
'  ful  as  a  sire,  while  all  were  of  the  finest,  the  purest  and  most  blood- 
like to  be  found  in  the  list  of  the  early  English  race-horses  imme- 
diately descended  from  the  Arabs  and  Barbs.  With  Sampson  qualities 
of  a  character  not  displayed  by  any  previous  members  entered  into 
the  family.  As  compared  with  the  lithe  and  beautiful  Barb-like  form 
and  finish  of  Childers  and  the  Darley  Arabian,  Sampson  was  as  coarse 
.  and  homely  as  a  cart-horse.  The  editor  of  the  Trotting  Register  ia. 
his  monthly,  says: 


108  ORIGINAL' SOURCES   OP  TKOTTING   BLOOD. 

I  find  no  hesitancy  or  disagreement  among  the  English  authorities ;  they 
all  give  the  pedigree  alike.  It  seems  to  be  the  fate  of  nearly  all  horses  that 
greatly  distinguish  themselves,  from  the  days  of  Sampson  and  English  Eclipse 
to  Ethan  Allen  and  Dexter,  [and  he  might  have  added  Sir  Archy],  to  have 
their  parentage  doubted ;  these  stories  generally  originate  with  grooms  and 
stable  boys,  or  with  the  owners  of  rival  stallions;  in  this  case  the  story  was, 
that  the  dam  of  Sampson  had  been  covered  by  a  cart-horse,  and  his  immense 
bone  and  strength  seemed  to  sustain  it. 

The  editor,  who  is  himself  a  compiler  of  pedigrees,  might  have  added 
that  owners  sometimes  were  unwilling  to  acknowledge  a  stain  in  a  pedi- 
gree, and  caused  a  more  fashionable  but  spurious  one  to  go  upon  the 
record  and  come  down  to  ages  when  it  could  not  be  refuted  for  want 
of  knowledge  of  facts  well  known  to  the  cotemporaries  of  the  horse. 

This  horse  Sampson  was  foaled  in  1745,  and  was  a  black  horse.  His 
reputed  and  recorded  sire  Blaze  was  a  bay;  his  sire.  Flying  Childers, 
was  a  chestnut> — by  which  is  meant  a  sorrel;  and  the  Darley  Arabian 
was  most  likely  of  the  same  color. 

The  color  of  his  dam  is  not  given,  but  she  was  Babboon's  dam,  by 
Hip,  son  of  Curwen's  bay  Barb;  and  in  a  family  where  the  prevailing 
color  was  bay,  g^rey  or  chestnut,  with  an  occasional  brown,  a  black 
being  very  uncommon. 

Godolphin  Arabian  was  a  brown,  but  then  as  now  the  bays  and 
chestnuts  formed  the  great  majority  of  the  blood  horses. 

One  of  the  earliest  English  writers  on  the  horse,  Lawrence,  says: 

I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  retract  my  opinion  concerning  Robinson's 
Sampson.  Not  only  did  the  account  of  the  groom  appear  to  me  to  be  entitled 
to  credit,  but  the  internal  evidence  of  the  horse's  having  had  in  him  a  cross 
of  common  blood  is  sufficiently  strong  by  appearance  both  of  the  horse  him- 
self and  his  stock;  an  idea  in  which  every  sportsman,  I  believe,  who  remem- 
bers Engineer,  Mambrino  and  others  will  agree  with  me. 

While  the  thorough])red  horse  of  that  day  was  an  animal  that 
scarcely  exceeded  fourteen  hands  and  two  inches,  rarely  indeed  reach- 
ing fifteen  hands,  Sampson  was  fifteen-two,  and  his  measurements  are 
given,  accompanied  with  the  statement  that  he  was  the  largest-boned 
blood  horse  that  was  ever  bred.  The  editor  of  the  monthly  above 
referred  to  says: 

The  question  here  keeps  pressing  itself  to  the  front  and  demanding  an 
answer  as  to  where  this  great  "  cart-horse "  bone  development  came  from. 
There  is  nothing  known  of  any  of  his  ancestors  that  will  justify  us  in  point- 
ing to  this  one  or  that  one  as  transmitting  it. 

In  Engineer,  his  son — a  brown   horse — the   same    coarseness  and 


general  characteristics  aga,in  appear,  although  not  ■  in  sOj  grgat  ,4eg:ree 
as  in  Sampson.  ,  _       , 

The  dam  of  Ehgmeer  seems  to  have  been  a  blooa  nlare,  b^  Y cfung 
Greyhound,    and   his  girandam   was  by  Curwen's  bay  Barb — a  ver^^ 

popuUr  horse,  from  Morocco — present©^  toi'OW^ifXIYlof  FigniP^  b;gj 
Muley  Ishmail  of  Morocco.        .         ■  .   j'I      ''i  "sud  :.i '■  '(/.r     v.4;a  ;^..i  ]Lr.v 

Engineei*,  though  rough  and  coarse  as  might  haVe  beeh  expected,' 
was  a  horse  of  great  substance/ aiid  -<vOil  seven  facJeS'^otit  df^twe'lv^ 
while  oji  the  turf,  and  produced  in  the  stud  several  good  aiiimal^,;  the' 
best  of  which  was  Mambrino.  This  latter  horse  reproduced  much  o|| 
the  coach-horse  coarseness  of  Sampson.  He  was  a  grey,  , with  an^ 
immense  forequarter  and  shoulder,  rising  into  a  crest,  wholly  tmlikec 
any  blood  horse  that  ever  appeared  on  the  turf.  He  was  stout  irf 
every  point — bone,  sinew  and  muscle.  Whyte,  a  recent  historian  of 
the  English  turf,  says  of  him,  that  he  was  site  of  a  great'  many  fexcfel- 
lent  hunters  and  strong,  useful  road  horses;  and  it  has  been  said  of 
him  that  from  his  blood  the  breed  of  horses  for  the  coach  was  brought 
nearly  to  its  present  state  of  pT3rfection.  -^  ''■'■'  ,-:  "^J 

The  coarseness  of  Mambrino,  like  that  of  Sampson,  seems  toitavd' 
been  only  in  the  great  weight  and  size  of  his  bone  and  frame,  for  h^ 
evinced  no  lack  of  superior  quality.  His  dam  was  a  daughter  of 
Cade,  a  son  of  the  Godolphin  Arabian.  •       ■' 

From  all  the  accounts  that  come  to  us,  these  two  horses  seem  to 
have  been  the  strongest  and  heaviest  boned  animals  of  the  English 
turf;  and  aside  from  the  color  of  Sampson — black  being  the  prevail-' 
ing  color  in  one  family  of  English  cart  or  heavy  road  horses — -they 
each  possessed  and  transmitted  to  their  descendants  other  qualities 
not  characteristic  of  the  highly  and  purely  bred  race-horse.  They 
had  elements  of  a  trotting  or  road  gait — the  way  of  going  adopted  oi? 
chosen  by  all  animals  that  travel  in  harness  on  the  road — and  which  is 
more'  suitable  for  that  way  of  going  than  any  other  gait.  This  fact  is 
eminently  sviggestive  that  there  mu^t  have  been  some  real  truth  in  the 
reported  coach-horse  paternity  of  Sampson;  and  the  only  real  argu* 
ment  against  the  acceptance  of  this  story  is  the  almost  prodigious 
merit  and  capability  of  both  Sampson  and  his  grandson,  Mambrino.    i 

Sampson,  coach-horse  as  he  was,  appeared  almost  as  great  a  prodig3^ 
as  Flying  Childers  or  Eclipse,  neither  of  which  was  ever  beaten  in  a 
race.  Sampson,  as  a  race-horse,  beat  all  his  competitors  in  races  of 
four  miles  and  under,  until  his  last  race,  in  which  he  won-the  first 
heat. 


..^.rf.  *^  ..U-ii. 


110  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

Lawrence,  the  writer  above  referred  to,  says: 

His  dip  of  plebian  blood,  however  little  or  much  it  might  be,  caa 
scarcely  be  called  a  blot,  even  in  the  escutcheon  of  Sampson,  since  such  acci- 
dental crosses,  although  they  are  not  recorded,  must  inevitably  have  happened, 
as  well  in  our  English  as  our  Southern  breeds;  and  since  Sampson  at  light  as 
well  as  heavy  weights  beat  the  best  horses  of  his  day.  Indeed  Sampson  at 
twenty  and  perhaps  fifteen  stone  would  have  beaten  over  the  course  both 
Flying  Childers  and  Eclipse,  and  have  double-distanced  Bonny  Black.  "When 
Sampson  was  led  out  at  Malton  to  start  for  his  first  race,  I  have  been  told  by  a 
spectator,  that  the  grooms  made  themselves  merry  with  the  idea  that  Mr.  Rob- 
inson had  brought  a  coach  horse  to  start  for  the  plate.  My  informant  repre 
sented  him  as  a  true  game  horse,  and  as  having  a  great  stride.  Some  of  his 
stock  were  the  best  runners  of  their  time.  But  Sampson's  blood  has  always 
been  unfashionable,  chiefly,  I  believe,  because  the  stock  run  to  so  large  a 
«ize. 

Mambrino  ran  until  he  was  eleven  years  old;  he  won  a  large  ma.jor- 
ity  of  his  races,  and  received  forfeit  from  many  good  horses. 

On  the  supposition  that  the  sire  of  Sampson  was  a  horse  of  coarse 
blood,  or  cart-horse,  as  he  was  called — whatever  his  quality  as  such 
was — how  can  we  account  for  the  superiority  of  Sampson  and  Mam- 
brino as  race-horses?     The  question  grows  in  importance  and  difficulty 
when  we  extend  the  view,  as  we  shall  before  the  close  of  this  chapter, 
to  the  remarkable  superiority  of  Messenger  and  his  descendants  in  cm- 
own  country.     Could  he  receive  the  infusion   of  inferior  blood  and 
the  great  coarseness  of  bone  and  conformation,  and  yet  retain  that 
excellence  of  quality  which  made  him  so  great  a  horse,  and  which 
marked  his  descendants  for  so  many  generations?     The  effects  of  such 
a  cross,  if  it  was  one  of  really  inferior  blood,  might  be  expected  to  be 
seen  in  the  first  produce,  but  would  gradually  give  place,  under  the 
preponderating  influence  of  superior  blood,  in  its  subsequent  crosses, 
and  under  its  more  potent  influence,  and  might  be  expected  at  the 
end  of  three  or  four  generations  to  disappear  or  become  hardly  per- 
ceptible.    But  such  was  not  the  case.     Mambrino,  the  thoroughbred 
son  of  Messenger,  and  Dove,  the  part-bred  grandson,  besides  many  of 
his  other  descendants,  displayed  in  great  and  eminent  degree  the 
peculiar  qualities  of  coarseness   and   excellence   that    distinguished 
Sampson  and  the  first  Mambrino. 

Several  important  questions  are  here  presented,  but  which  may  not 
be  easily  solved. 

First — Had  the  dam  of  Sampson  such  a  concentration  of  good  blood 
as  would  enable  her  to  produce  a  horse  of  such  superiority  and  so  ex- 
ceedingly impressive  as  a  sire  himself,  from  a  low  or  ill-bred  sire  r 


IMPORTED   MESSENGER.  Ill 

We  must  all  agree  that  by  force  of  all  known  principles  of  breed- 
ing, she  had  not. 

Secondly^Was  it  possible  for  Blaze,  the  son  of  Flying  Childers, 
and  grandson  of  the  Darley  Arabian,  and  descended  from  the  purest  of 
blood  on  his  dam's  feide,  to  have  produced  such  a  great  black  coach 
horse  in  bone  and  conformation  as  Sampson,  from  a  mare  so  well-bred 
as  was  his  dam,  although  her  pedigree  does  not  extend  beyond  four 
■crosses  in  blood  known  to  be  pure? 

"We  must  all  agree  that  by  the  law  that  like  produces  like,  he  could 
not;  and  must  therefore  conclude  that  Sampson  was  not  the  son  of 
Blaze  and  grandson  of  the  great  Childers.  Furthermore,  when  it  be- 
comes clearly  established  that  Sampson  possessed  and  transmitted  to 
his  descendants  to  remote  generations,  a  trotting  instinct,  a  nerve 
organism  or  temperament,  that  inclined  them  to  trot  rather  than 
gallop,  the  laws  of  heredity  clearly  assert  that  he  did  not  come  from 
Blaze,  a  son  of  Flying  Childers;  for  all  persons  acquainted  with  the 
■character  of  the  English  race-horses  descended  from  the  pure  Arab, 
know  that  they  possessed  no  such  instincts.  What  they  did  not  pos- 
sess they  could  not  transmit.  Sampson  inherited  this  quality  from  his 
sire,  but  that  sire  was  not  the  son  of  Childers. 

The  mystery  about  his  breeding  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  are  not 
advised  as  to  the  blood  quality  or  character  of  the  alleged  cart  or 
coach  horse,  but  have  assumed  that  because  he  was  heavy  boned  and 
coarse,  he  was  lacking  in  good  blood,  in  the  face  of  the  most  decisive 
proof  that  he  possessed  quality  of  the  most  positive  character. 

His  characteristic  points  were  clearly  evident  in  the  composition 
■of  the  horse  produced,  and  his  positiveness  and  impressiveness  as  a  sire 
are  manifest  in  Sampson  and  *Mambrino  and  in  Messenger  and  his 
■descendants  to  this  day.  He  was  an  outcross,  but  an  outcross  is  cal- 
culated to  infuse  vigor  and  increased  size  and  hardiness  into  the 
offspring,  and  if  it  be  of  two  bloods  that  assimilate,  the  good  and 
powerful  qualities  of  each  are  apt  to  be  retained.  Such  seemed  to  be 
the  case  here.  The  speed  and  real  fineness  of  quality  in  the  Arab- 
English  mare  were  retained  and  blended  with  the  increased  weight  of 
bone  and  apparent  coarseness  of  carcass  in  the  coach  horse  ;  the 
nerve  force  and  vital  temperament  of  the  fleet  courser  were  also  retained 
and  engrafted  upon  an  animal  of  great  physical  superiority,  endowed 
with  the  trotting  instincts  of  the  roadster,  and  what  was  bred  in  the 
blood  came  out  and  continues  to  come  out  in  the  bone.     It  may  be 


112  ORIGINAL   SOUKCES   QF  TRQTTINO   BLOOD. 

e^  anomaly  in  breeding',  but  there  is  no  other  way  of  accounting  for 
it,  and  tliis  h\']")othesis  is  within  the  known  and  probable  facts. 

An  animal  thus  bred  from  two  diverse  elements  would,  not  breed  out 
his  distinctive  qualities  alike.  Some  of  his  offspring  would  go  back 
tpward  the  racerhorse  type;  the  coach-horse  qualities  would  be  stronger 
in.  some  than  in  others,  and  this  unequal  manifestation  would  raark  hi* 
descendants,  and  the  history  of  the  family  proves  this  to  be  true, 
Mambrino  was  more  of  a  coach  horse  than  Engineer,  his  own  sire,  and 
Messenger  transmitted  that  quality  still  more  powerfully  but  unequally 
to  his  own  offsj^ring.  Mambrino,  Hambletonian,  Dove  and  Ab4allah 
ranked  together  as  the  representatives  of  one  class,  while  Potomac^ 
Tippoo  Saib,  Sir  Solomon,  Miller's  Damsel  and  Fair  Rachel  repre- 
sented the  racing  class. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  theory  has  no  parallel  in  breeding,  I  point 
to  the  case  of  the  little  black  pacer,  Pilot.  He  might  be  called  a  low^^ 
bred  hor^e  in  some  respects,  although  he  came  from  good  blood  in  the 
remote  jiast.  He  was  less  than  fifteen  hands  high,  but  could  pace  Bk 
mile  in  2:26,  carrying  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  on  his  back. 
Crossed  with  a  mare  that  had  two  crosses  of  fine  blood  and  fifteen  hands 
high,  he  produced  Pilot  Jr.,  a  horse  of  great  substance  and  strength, 
and  two  inches  taller  than  either  sire  or  dam,  and  he  from  a  mare  not 
over  fifteen  hands  and  two  inches  high  produced  Woodburn  Pilot,  a 
great  coarse,  heavy-boned  trotter  of  the  coach-horse  or  Sampson 
class,  sixteen  and  a  half  hands  high  and  of  immense  bone  and 
strength. 

Such  is  the  effect  of  an  outcross  when  there  is  a  union  of  two 
bloods  that  assimilate  and  blend  harmoniously  in  the  union.  In  the 
(Jam  of  Mambrino,  the  warm  blood  of  the  dam  of  Sampson  Avould 
receive  a  further*  reinforcement  and  further  refinement,  but  the  pure 
strains  from  the  Godolphin  Arabian  could  not  efface  the  coach-horse 
instincts  or  the  coach-horse  bone  and  powerful  conformation  already 
implanted  in  the  stock. 

When  we  come  to  the  dam  of  Messenger  she  was  a  mare  "  pure  as 
milk,"  to  use  the  phrase  of  an  Arab — having  two  near  crosses  of  the 
Godolphin  Arabian,  and  deeply  in-bred  in  the  pure  blood  of  the  desert 
- — ^but  for  all  that,  the  impress  of  the  coach  horse  could  not  be  effaced. 
His  quality  of  blood  was  too  positive  and  his  impressiveness  as  a  siie 
•was  too  great  to  yield  to  all  the  blood  of  Arabia. 

Inasmuch  as  we  know  that  there  were  in  England,  in  the  immediate 
district  where  Sampson  was  bred  and  sj^ent  his  days,  a  race  of  roc^d 


IMPORTED  MESSEISTGER.  113: 

horses  that  could  trot  a  mile  in  three  minutes  and  could  trot  seventeen 
miles  within  the  hour — a  race  whose  trotting  instincts  are  not  sur- 
passed by  any  that  we  have  in  our  own  country  at  this  day — we  need 
have  no  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  origin  of  the  animal  that  possessed 
the  qualities  exhibited  in  the  horse  under  consideration.  While  the 
thoroughbred  was  mainly  bred  from  the  blood  of  the  desert,  the 
English  hunter  and  English  hackney  were  doubtless  very  superior 
horses.  The  great  weights  carried  across  hedges,  walls  and  ditches,, 
and  across  a  wide  expanse  of  country,  in  the  fox  chase,  could  only  be- 
done  by  animals  of  great  ability. 

The  sire  of  Sampson  was  not  a  low  or  ill-bred  animal,  although  not 
a  grandson  of  the  Darley  Arabian.  Besides  the  matter  of  color — 
black  being  the  prevailing  color  in  that  part  of  England  for  the  road 
or  coach  horse — the  family  of  Sampson  have  one  other  point  that 
marks  them  indelibly  as  having  a  trace  of  the  blood  of  the  black 
Lincolnshire  horse,  namely,  the  flat  or  round  and  low  wdthers.  This  is. 
a  peculiarity  of  the  Messenger  horse  of  to-day  in  the  highest  and  best 
form.  Put  your  hand  on  the  withers  of  Blackwood,  one  of  his  finest 
representatives  living,  and  you  see  in  the  low,  round,  almost  flat 
withers,  the  united  effect  of  several  close  and  direct  crosses  of  Messen- 
ger blood. 

H.  "VY.  Herbert,  the  accomplished  writer  on  the  English  horse,  says 
of  the  colors  of  the  coach  horses  descended  from  the  Suffolk  Punch,. 
Lincolnshire  horse  and  Cleveland  bays  crossed  for  many  generations 
with  the  blood  of  thoroughbreds  and  the  best  English  stallions,  that  they 
are  often  found  dark  browns  with  cinnamon  muzzles;  which  is  a  favor- 
ite color,  being  supposed  to  indicate  hardiness.  Did  this  color,  which 
is  so  common  in  the  descendants  of  Hambletonian,  ever  suggest  itself 
to  any  of  my  readers  as  an  evidence  of  coach- horse  descent? 

Mr.  Herbert  is  sufficient  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  pure 
original  races  of  Lincolnshire,  Cleveland  bay  and  Suffolk  Punch 
horses  have  almost  disappeared  in  England,  from  the  custom  that  has 
now  prevailed  for  over  a  century,  of  crossing  the  thoroughbred 
stallions  on  this  stock,  and  recrossing  the  same  class  of  stallions  suc- 
cessively on  the  produce  thus  obtained;  that  by  such  means  a  race 
of  black  coach  horses  has  been  produced,  in  every  way  one  of  great 
superiority. 

That  the  sire  of  Sampson  was  one  thus  descended  from  the  Black 
Lincolnshire  horse,  in  the  remote  past,  admits  of  hardly  a  doubt.  His 
low  and  straight  shoulder,  his  flat  or  round  withers,  his  color,  and  his 


114  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

coarse  conformation  and  hig-h  quality,  all  go  to  show  that  such  was  his 
origin.  If  we  can't  get  along  with  the  fact  of  his  perforinance,  we 
are  compelled  to  leave  that  with  him.  He  got  along  with  it.  Tlie 
shoulder  and  withers  of  Messenger  were  not  those  of  a  thoroughbred, 
although  the  blood  of  the  racer  had  almost  complete  sway  in  the  com- 
position of  his  family  for  many  generations. 

While  the  sire  of  Sampson  could  not  have  been  a  pure  thorough- 
bred, he  must  have  had  a  very  large  percentage  of  that  blood.  The 
custom  of  breeding  the  racing  sire  to  the  black  Lincolnshire  mare, 
and  then  for  several  generations  successively  repeating  the  same  resort 
to  the  thoroughbred  sire,  would  in  three  or  four  crosses  produce  a 
coach  horse  of  such  qualities  in  high  degree  as  Sampson  himself  dis- 
played. As  I  have  shown  in  Chapter  III,  on  the  employment  of  rac- 
ing blood,  it  can  not  be  employed  with  entire  success  except  by  grad- 
ual approaches — using  at  all  times  the  racing  blood  in  the  sire  instead 
of  the  dam.  In  this  way  a  stallion  could  have  been  produced  that 
would  have  evinced  great  stamina  and  united  in  high  degree  the  qual- 
ities of  the  two  diverse  stocks  from  which  he  came.  The  dam  of 
Sampson  united  with  such  a  sire  doubtless  gave  us  the  great  progeni- 
tor of  the  trotting  family  of  Messengers.  It  was  believed  in  the  day 
of  Sampson,  and  it  can  not  otherwise  he  accounted  for  at  this  time. 

As  I  have  said,  the  impressiveness  of  the  sire  of  Sampson  was 
evinced  in  the  other  traits  even  more  strikingly  than  the  weight  of  bone 
and  the  coarseness  that  prevailed  throughout  his  entire  conformation. 
Long  use  on  the  road  in  harness  had  done  for  him  what  employment 
under  the  saddle  for  generations  had  done  for  the  ancestry  of  Blaze 
and  Flying  Childers.  It  had  implanted  in  him  a  nervous  organization, 
a  temperament  or  inclination  toward  a  particular  way  of  going,  that 
amounted  to  an  instinct  or  innate  habit  of  mind,  which  inclined  him 
and  his  family  to  that  way  of  going  rather  than  the  elastic  and  far- 
leaping  gait  of  the  race-horse.  He  had  some  capacity  for  galloping, 
but  less  inclination.  When  forced  to  a  rate  of  speed  greater  than  his 
trotting  capacity,  he  could  and  would  gallop.  Tliis  instinct  or  mental 
organism  was  engrafted  on  Sampson  and  blended  with  his  race-horse 
temperament,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  perfect  union  and  blending 
of  the  blood  and  character  of  the  two  parent  stocks  were  united,  and 
the  result  was  a  horse  of  great  superiority  and  marked  character  in 
every  respect. 

There  has  not  been  a  particle  of  trotting  quality  displayed  in  the 
families  of  Arabs,  Barl)s  and   English  thoroughbreds  outside  of  this 


IJIPOKTED   MESSENGER.  115 

scion  thus  engrafted,  and  yet  no  one  in  the  light  of  history  can  ques- 
tion the  fact  that  the  blood  of  Sampson  has  been  full  of  adaptation  to 
the  trotting  gait — in  coach  horses,  road  horses,  and  the  great  trotters 
of  the  turf  in  every  generation  since  his  day.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind 
that  Useful  Cub,  the  famous  English  trotter,  that  trotted  seventeen 
miles  in  less  than  an  hour,  was  descended  from  Sampson,  the  same 
number  of  removes  as  our  imported  Messenger,  his  dam  being  by  a 
son  of  Sampson.  When  I  come  to  speak  of  imported  Bellfounder,  I 
shall  recur  to  this  fact,  and  we  shall  probably  see  to  what  further  ex- 
tent the  blood  of  Sampson,  through  this  channel,  has  influenced  the 
stock  of  our  American  roadster. 

I  have  already  called  attention  to  the  credit  that  has  been  given  to 
Mambrino  for  the  influence  his  blood  has  had  upon  the  stock  of 
English  coach  horses.  All  cotemporaries  agree  that  they  showed  a 
romarkalile  adaptation  to  the  trotting  gait,  and  it  has  been  transmitted 
to  us,  that  Lord  Grosvenor,  the  owner  of  Mambrino,  ofi"ered  to  match 
Mambrino  to  trot  fourteen  miles  in  an  hour,  for  one  thousand  guineas. 
This,  for  an  untrained  horse  and  one  not  used  for  harness  purjDOses, 
would  be  regarded  as  fast  going.  Mambrino  was  probably  more  of  a 
trotter  than  Messenger,  and  would  in  all  probability  have  surpassed 
him  as  the  progenitor  or  founder  of  a  race  of  roadsters.  He  was  one 
degree  closer  to  the  coach  horse,  and  less  modified  in  form  and  instinct 
by  the  pure  Arab  blood.  The  dam  of  Messenger  was  strongly  in-bred 
in  the  purest  strains  known  in  England.  Any  one  who  has  closely 
studied  the  crossing  of  the  trotter  with  the  blood  of  Diomed,  Sir 
Archy,  and  other  pure-bred  horses  in  this  country,  has  seen  that  the 
effect  is  a  gradual  shortening  of  the  line  from  hip  to  hock,  and  also  a 
lengthening  of  the  distance  from  the  hock  to  the  ground — longer  rear 
cannons.  This  is  the  galloping  leverage;  the  reverse  is  the  trotting 
leverage.  If  we  could  find  a  coarse  and  in-bred  descendant  of  Mam- 
brino in  England,  and  import  him  to  cross  on  our  trotting  stock,  it 
would  be  the  only  resort  to  any  form  of  racing  blood  that  I  could 
suggest  or  advocate. 

Little  is  known  with  regard  to  the  trotting  capacity  of  Messenger, 
as  he  was  never  used  for  any  purpose  that  would  afford  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities  in  that  direction.  Of  his  immediate 
and  remote  descendants  I  shall  speak  further  along.     . 

Messenger  was  bred  by  John  Pratt,  Esq.,  of  Newmarket,  England, 
and  was  owned  during  his  racing  career  by  Mr.  Bullock.  He  seems 
to  have  been  imported  into  this  country  by  a  Mr.  Benger,  arriving  at 


116  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

Philadelphia  in  the  year  1788,  or  when  he  was  about  eight  years  old. 
It  is  intimated  that  he  spent  a  short  time  in  Ireland  before  coming  to 
this  country.  He  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life — twenty  years — in 
the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  and  died  on 
the  28th  of  January,  1808,  at  the  place  of  Mr.  Townsend  Cock,  on 
Lono;  Island. 

So  much  has  been  written  about  Messenger,  and  so  many  have 
undertaken  to  describe  him,  that  it  seems  like  undertaking  a  task 
already  threadbare.  A  cotemporary,  in  a  letter  to  the  author  of 
Horses  and  Horsemanship  of  America,  spoke  thus  concerning  him : 

But  immeasurably  superior  to  all  others  was  Messenger ;  who,  take  him  all 
in  all,  is  unquestionably  the  best  horse  ever  brought  to  America.  He  not  only 
produced  race-horses  of  the  first  order,  both  at  long  and  short  distances,  but 
as  roadsters  his  get  were  imequaled.  His  large,  bony  head,  rather  short  neck, 
with  windpipe  and  nostrils  nearly  twice  as  large  as  ordinary,  with  his  low 
withers,  and  shoulders  somewhat  upright,  but  deep,  close  and  strong.  But 
behind  these  lay  the  perfection  and  power  of  the  machine.  His  barrel,  loin, 
hips  and  quarters  were  incomparably  superior  to  all  others.  His  hocks  and 
knees  were  imusually  large ;  below  them  his  limbs  were  of  medium  size,  but 
flat,  strong  and  remarkably  clean,  and,  either  in  standing  or  in  action,  their 
position  was  perfect. 

Mr.  Wallace,  in  his  monthly,  has  given  an  extended  account  of 
Messenger,  and  from  the  various  descriptions  of  him  extant  has  given 
Ms  impressions,  which,  although  not  entirely  agreeing  with  my  own,  I 
give  in  part  as  follows: 

He  was  a  grey,  that  became  lighter  and  flea-bitten  with  age.  He  was  fifteen 
hands  and  three  inches  high,  and,  for  a  thoroughbred,  his  appearance  was 
coarse.  He  did  not  supply  the  mind  with  an  idea  of  beauty,  but  he  impressed 
upon  it  a  conception  of  solidity  and  power.  His  head  was  large  and  bony, 
with  a  nose  that  had  a  decided  Koman  tendency,  though  not  to  a  marked 
degree.  His  nostrils  were  unusually  large  and  flexible,  and  when  distended 
they  were  enormous.  His  eye  was  large,  full,  very  dark,  and  remarkably  brill- 
iant. His  ear  was  larger  than  usual  in  the  blood  horse,  but  thin  and  tapering, 
and  always  active  and  expressive.  The  windpipe  was  so  unusually  large,  and 
stood  out  so  much  as  a  distinct  feature,  that  it  marred  what  otherwise  would 
have  been  a  game-like  throat-latch  and  setting  on  of  the  head.  His  neck  was 
very  short  for  a  blood  horse,  but  was  not  coarse  and  thick  like  a  bull's ;  neither 
did  it  rise  into  such  an  immense  crest  as  that  of  his  sire.  It  was  not  a  bad  neck 
in  any  sense,  but,  like  Lexington's  of  our  own  da}',  it  was  too  short  to  be  hand- 
some. His  mane  and  foretop  were  thin  and  light.  His  withers  were  low  and 
round,  which  appears  to  have  been  a  family  characteristic  in  the  male  line 
back  for  three  generations  at  least.  His  shoulders  were  heavy,  and  altogether 
too  upright  for  ideas  of  a  race-horse.    His  barrel  was  perfection  itself,  both  in 


IMPORTED   MESSENGER.  117 

depth  and  rotundity.  His  loin  was  well  arched,  broad  and  strong.  His  hips 
and  quarters  were  "  incomparably  superior  to  all  others."  The  column  of  the 
vertebra,  beinsi-  of  unusual  depth  and  strength,  gave  the  setting  on  of  the  tail 
a  distinctive  but  elegant  character.  The  tail  was  carried  in  tine  style ;  like 
the  mane,  it  was  not  in  superabundant  quantity,  but  there  was  no  such  scanti- 
ness as  to  detract  from  the  beauty  and  grace  of  the  animal.  His  stifles  were 
well  spread  and  swelling,  but  there  appears  to  have  been  no  unusual  develop- 
ment at  this  point.  From  the  stifle  to  the  hock,  and  from  the  elbow  to  the 
knee,  no  writer  that  we  can  now  recall  has  given  us  a  description  of  either 
length  or  strength.  We  may,  therefore,  take  it  for  granted  these  points  had 
no  unusual  development  of  muscle,  but  were  in  harmony  with  the  general 
contour  and  make-up  of  a  great,  strong  horse.  His  hocks  and  knees  were 
unusually  large  and  bony,  with  all  the  members  strong  and  clearly  defined. 
The  cannon-bones  were  short  and  flat,  and  the  ligaments  back  of  them  were 
very  large  and  braced  a  good  way  ofl",  so  that  the  leg  was  broad  and  flat. 
************** 

The  conviction  is  reasonable,  and  grows  out  of  evidence  that  comes  from 
every  quarter,  and  we  have  no  disposition  to  surrender  it,  that  the  bones  of 
Messenger's  limbs  were  unusually  large  and  strong  for  those  of  a  thorough- 
bred. His  pasterns  and  feet  were  all  that  could  be  desired ;  and  as  an  evidence 
of  the  excellence  and  health  of  his  imderpinning,  several  writers  have  put  it 
on  record  that,  whether  in  the  stable  or  on  the  show-ground,  he  never  was 
known  to  mopingly  rest  one  leg  by  standing  on  the  other  three,  but  was 
always  prompt  and  upright. 

************** 

From  this  description,  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  pick  out  the  features  which 
gave  him  his  coarse  and  badly  bred  appearance.  His  big  head,  long  ears, 
short  neck,  low  withers,  upright  shoulders,  large  bones,  and,  possibly,  coarse 
hair,  complete  the  catalogue. 

************** 

The  coarseness,  the  cart-horse  appearance,  was  in  the  family,  but  it  did  not 
seem  to  prevent  them  from  beating  some  of  the  best  that  England  produced 
in  successive  generations. 

I  may  add  to  the  above,  that  from  a  close  study  of  many  of  the 
descendants  of  Messenger  of  the  present  generation,  and  those  coming 
from  various  separate  and  united  lines  of  descent,  I  am  satisfied  that 
he  transmitted  to  his  offspring  a  certain  proportion  or  physical  con- 
formation with  very  marked  uniformity.  They  display  a  medium 
leverage — a  length  from  hip  to  hock  of  about  39  inches,  and  a  thigh 
23  inches,  a  long  forearm  and  a  short  front  cannon;  they  are  not  wide 
at  the  stifle,  and  do  not  make  a  great  display  of  motion  in  trotting 
action.  It  is  altogether  probable  that  Sampson,  and  perhaps  Mam- 
brino,  may  have  been  somewhat  longer  in  the  rear  leverage  than 
Messenger.     The  long  line  of  racing  blood  through  which  his  dam  and 


118      ORIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  TROTTING  BLOOD. 

that  of  Mambrino  came,  would  have  a  strong  tendency  to  modify  the 
coach-horse  conformation,  just  as  our  own  experience  in  breeding  our 
trotting  stock  on  thoroughbred  crosses  has  a  tendency  to  go  back 
toward  the  thoroughbred  standard,  and  shorten  both  the  thigh  and 
the  line  from  hip  to  hock.  That  of  Messenger  was  very  close  to  the 
thoroughbred  model. 

The  low  and  round  withers  spoken  of  are  almost  flat,  and  the 
shoulder  blades  rise  nearly  even  with  the  top  of  the  withers,  but  a 
firmer  or  more  closely  interwoven  mass  of  ligaments,  flesh  and  bone 
never  was  found  surmounting  the  shoulders  of  any  horse  than  that 
which  belongs  to  the  Messenger.  The  hoof  is  one  of  very  superior 
quality,  and  generally  of  good  size,  vndening  out  in  the  descent 
from  the  coronet,  and  rarely  a  flat  or  broad  base.  Added  to  this,  he 
is  marked  with  the  most  perfect  freedom  from  disease  or  infirmity  of 
any  kind.  No  family  that  ever  lived  on  this  continent  equals  them  in 
their  entire  exemption  from  all  inherent  tendency  toward  spavins,, 
curbs,  ringbones,  or  other  diseases  arising  from  inflammation  and 
inability  to  absorb  the  synovial  and  other  secretions.  In  point  of  tem- 
per, they  have  not  been  regarded  as  amiable,  but  it  can  be  said  they 
have  the  intelligence  to  appreciate  kindness  and  will  not  tolerate  abuse. 
Messenger  and  many  of  his  sons  and  early  descendants,  including 
Abdallah,  were  represented  as  displaying  a  temper  that  was  absolutely 
ferocious,  and  many  were  they  who  paid  the  penalty  of  undue  and 
careless  familiarity  with  them. 

Messenger  spent  his  twenty  years  of  American  life  in  that  region 
where  the  custom  of  driving  the  horse  in  harness  for  business  and  for 
pleasure  had  its  chief  origin  and  most  universal  prevalence.  A  large 
part  of  his  own  produce  were  but  part-bred  and  came  from  crosses 
with  the  best  road  mares  of  the  region  where  he  stood.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  several  of  his  sons  that  have  ranked  as  thoroughbreds, 
the  more  distinguished  of  these  latter  being  Hambletonian,  Mambrino, 
and  Ogden's  Messenger.  As  might  be  expected  his  blood  was  widely 
disseminated  in  that  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  country,  and  enters, 
largely  into  the  principal  roadster  families  of  the  continent. 

A  review  of  the  early  trotters  of  Messenger  descent,' and  a  tracing 
of  the  origin  of  the  several  families  who  owe  their  trotting  quality  to 
his  blood,  will  show,  in  more  complete  manner  than  any  other,  the 
importance  and  value  of  his  blood  to  the  American  roadster  and  trot- 
ting horse.  The  two  sons  of  Messenger  whose  immediate  influence 
on  the  trotting  stock  of  this  country  was  the  greatest,  were  Mambrino 


IMPORTED   MESSENGER.  119 

and  Hamiltonian,  the  latter  named  in  honor  of  Alexander  Hainiltoii, 
but  the  name  was  in  later  years  changed  to  Hambletonian.  The 
former  was  athoroughbred,  and  the  latter  was  claimed  to  be  such,  ])ut 
the  pedigree  has  been  doubted  and  is  questionable.  Mambrino  was  a 
large  and  very  coarse  horse  for  a  thoroughbred,  and  was  pronounced  a 
natural  trotter  in  his  day.  He  produced  Abdallah,  the  king  of  trotting 
stallions,  of  whom  a  more  particular  account  will  be  given  in  the 
chapter  on  Hambletonian.  He  also  produced  Alraack,  the  founder  of 
the  Champion  family. 

Hambletonian,  son  of  Messenger,  produced  the  early  trotters  Whale- 
bone and  Sir  Peter,  and  the  great  trotting  sires,  Harris'  Hambletonian 
and  Judson's  Hambletonian,  from  the  latter  of  which  came  Andrus' 
Hambletonian,  the  sire  of  Princess.  He  stands  as  the  paternal  head 
of  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  trotting  families. 

Engineer,  another  son,  left  us  the  sire  of  Lady  Suffolk,  and  Tippoo 
Saib  gave  us  the  sire  of  the-  famous  Dutchman,  whose  three-mile  per- 
formance stood  unequaled  for  thirty  years,  and  was  then  beaten  by 
Huntress,  daughter  of  Volunteer,  a  deeply  in-bred  descendant  of  Mes- 
senger. 

Through  Commander,  another  son,  came  the  line  of  blood  that  gave 
us  Screwdriver,  Screws,  Bull  Calf,  and  other  trotters  of  the  early  day. 
From  Winthrop  Messenger  came  chiefly  the  trotting  stock  of  that 
name  so  celebrated  in  the  State  of  Maine. 

From  Saratoga  came  the  in-bred  grandson.  Dove,  one  of  the  truest 
of  the  Messengers  in  all  that  marks  them  as  a  family,  and  from  him 
came,  as  I  think  the  evidences  show,  the  celebrated  Amazonia,  the 
dam  of  the  incomparable  Abdallah.  Mount  Holly,  another  son,  gave 
us  Paul  Pry,  one  of  the  early  trotting  celebrities.  Coriander, 
another  son,  gave  us  old  Top  Gallant,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  early 
day  trotters.  Ogden's  Messenger,  a  thoroughbred,  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  more  than  one  great  trotting  family. 

It  is  not  com2:)atible  with  the  limits  of  this  sketch,  for  me  to  enumer- 
ate all  the  distinguished  animals  that  have  been  numbered  among  the 
descendants  of  Messenger.  Many  other  families  have  been  brought 
into  notice  and  been  accredited  as  entitled  to  some  distinction  from 
the  fortunate  circumstance  of  having  in  the  composition  of  some 
noted  member  a  cross  of  Messenger  blood. 

Trustee  gained  reputation  by  the  performance  of  a  son  trotting 
twenty  miles  within  an  hour,  but  the  dam  of  the  trotter  was  a  daughter 
of  "SVinthrop  Messenger. 


120  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

The  Morse  horse,  sire  of  Norman,  the  sire  of  Blackwood  and 
Swigert.,  was  descended  on  the  dam's  side  from  two  different  sons  of 
JMesseng-er. 

Rhode  Island,  the  sire  of  Gov.  Sprague,  derived  all  the  known  trot- 
ting- blood  he  possessed  from  his  descent  from  Romp,  a  daughter  of 
Messeno^er. 

The  family  kno^vn  as  Royal  Georges  and  Panics  descended  from 
Ogden's  Messenger,  and  perhaps  have  a  cross  from  Hambletonian,  son 
of  Messenger. 

Mambrino  Chief  and  his  family  descended  from  Mambrino  and 
JMesseno-er  Duroc,  whose  dam  was  a  dauo-hter  of  Messeng-er. 

The  American  Star  family  came  from  two  and  perhaps  three  daugh- 
ters of  Messenger. 

The  great  Hambletonian,  of  whom  I  shall  treat  fully  in  the  next 
chapter,  was  a  son  of  Abdallah,  and  an  in-bred  Messenger. 

The  Bashaw  and  Clay  families  come  from  a  branch  of  the  descend- 
ants of  imported  Grand  Bashaw,  that  extended  backward  t(D  a 
daughter  of  Messenger;  of  this  branch  of  our  trotting  families  I  shall 
furtlier  treat  in  a  chapter  devoted  to  them. 

The  great  trotting  and  pacing  family  of  Cadmus  descend  from 
American  Eclipse,  whose  dam  was  Miller's  Damsel,  the  celebrated 
daughter  of  Messenger. 

The  Morrils,  Knoxes  and  Ethan  Allen,  the  best  of  the  trotters  of 
Morgan  descent,  have  crosses  of  Messenger  blood. 

Small  indeed  is  the  catalogue  of  American  trotters  or  trotting  fami- 
lies, if  there  be  any  such,  that  do  not  partake  of  the  blood  and  display 
the  characteristics  of  the  descendants  of  Messenger. 

I  have  before  observed  that  the  Messengers  are  of  an  even  conforma- 
tion, each  part  seemingly  closely  adapted  to  all  the  others,  and  that 
they  trot  with  an  even  and  steady  gait,  less  violent  and  demonstrative 
of  great  trotting  action  than  many  others.  Their  gait  is  rarely  a 
faulty  one.  They  do  not  at  first  dis2:)lay  as  great  readiness  or  natural 
aptness  for  the  trotting  gait  as  many  others,  and  are  not  so  far  noted 
as  natural  trotters  as  to  excel  at  that  gait  when  running  loose,  hence 
the  term  field-trotters  rarely  applies  to  the  Messenger  when  his  natural 
trottino-  qualitv  is  not  modified  bv  other  crosses.  But  however  little 
they  may  have  for  display,  the  extent  to  which  they  can  perform  when 
called  upon,  and  the  capacity  they  show  for  improvement,  and,  the 
great  age  to  which  they  continue  to  improve,  constitute  the  great 
characteristics  of  the  family.     At  first  we  are  often  prompted  to  say 


IMPORTED   MESSENGER,  121 

thev  are  not  natural  trotters,  that  their  quaUty  seems  rather  to  be  a 
capacity  to  learn — an  adaptation  or  aptitude  for  the  trotting  gait.  But 
in  reality  it  is  both.  The  trotting  gait  is  their  innate  habit  or  inclina- 
tion ;  it  is  their  instinct  and  their  special  adaptation,  and  their  readi- 
ness to  improve  and  the  great  capacity  they  have  for  improvement, 
and  the  great  age  to  which  they  can  improve  and  exhibit  great  power, 
are  simply  the  results  of  the  inborn  superiority  of  their  blood. 

It  is  a  blood  that  fuses  or  harmonizes  well  with  all  other  trotting 
bloods,  but  its  natural  superiority  is  such  that  it  exercises  a  powerful 
and  controlling  influence  over  other  bloods  to  a  marked  degree;  not, 
indeed,  that  all  other  crosses  yield  to  the  Messenger  in  the  peculiarities 
that  distinguish  their  own  families.  Not  by  any  means.  As  to  the 
manner  or  way  of  going,  the  Messenger  blood  is  largely  controlled  by 
many  other  crosses,  and  as  the  physical  conformation  has  the  lai-ger 
share  in  controlling  the  gait  and  way  of  going  of  the  trotter,  so  the 
conformation  that  belongs  to  the  other  trotting:  families,  enters  laro-elv 
into  such  as  are  deeply  crossed  in  Messenger  blood,  and  thereby  in 
marked  degree  affects  the  gait  of  the  trotters  thus  bred.  Such  is  the 
influence  of  the  Duroc  cross  to  an  extent  hardly  equaled  by  any 
other.  Such  is  also  the  influence  of  the  cross  from  the  blood  of 
Diomed,  St.  Lawrence  and  some  others — as  we  shall  see  further 
along. 

The  Bellfounder  cross  had  an  important  influence  over  the  Messengers, 
but  it  was  less  in  the  matter  of  apparent  way  of  going  than  in  some 
other  respects.  While  the  Messenger  blood  is  in  reality  the  most 
powerful  and  all-prevailing  trotting  blood  ever  introduced  in  our 
American  trotter,  and  seems  to  be  a  channel  that  floats  or  carries  all 
other  bloods  with  it,  it  is  one,  nevertheless,  that  has  been  largely 
modified  in  its  manifestations  by  other  crosses — more  particularly, 
however,  because  of  the  modified  conformations  and  physical  organ- 
isms that  our  trotters  have  borrowed  from  the  other  crosses  than  from 
any  yielding  of  the  force  and  quality  of  the  Messenger  to  them  in  the 
matter  of  trotting  quality. 

A  close  study  of  the  Messenger  family  establishes  the  fact,  not  new 
or  mysterious  to  breeders  of  experience,  that  this  blood,  derived  as  it 
has  been  from  two  separate  and  dissimilar  sources,  exhibits  the  forces 
peculiar  to  each  in  a  sort  of  antagonism,  and  that  the  force  and  power 
of  each  is  displayed  in  proportion  as  circumstances  are  presented 
which  favor  that  particular  element.  It  is  the  antagonism  of  the 
trotting  quality  against  the  racing  or  galloping  element,  and  it  proves 


122  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

that  while  Messenger  had  trotting  elements,  they  were  not  the  para- 
mount or  most  powerful  traits  of  his  organism.  This  is  shown  in  the 
fact  that  the  trotting  quality  is  not  the  strongest  in  those  families  that 
show  the  most  of  the  blood  of  Messenger — and  it  is  strongest  in  those 
currents  or  lines  that  have  come  through  channels  where  the  trottiag' 
instinct  received  some  even  slight  reinforcement  from  other  blood,  or 
from  use  and  employment  in  that  way. 

Often  the  highest  excellences  of  the  trotting  quality  in  the  Messen- 
ger "blood  have  come  out  of  a  single  and  remote  line,  while  it  is  a 
known  fact  that  many  of  the  pedigrees  strong  in  Messenger  have  but 
little  of  the  trotting  quality  to  show.  It  has  been  claimed  that  one 
pecviliarity  of  this  blood  is,  that  its  trotting  quality  comes  out  inten- 
sified by  the  reunion  of  previously  separated  channels.  This  is 
true.  But  if  the  merit  was  in  the  blood  per  se,  it  would  come  in  all 
the  greater  force  from  the  powerful  concentration  of  the  blood  before 
the  intervening  separation  had  occurred.  But  it  was  this  very  sepa- 
ration that  seemed  to  give  opportunity  for  the  trotting  impulses  to 
liberate  from  the  control  of  the  opposing  forces,  and  when  thus 
liberated  the  reunion  was  attended  with  an  intensified  exhibition  of 
trotting  quality. 

This  aspect  of  the  blood  must  be  carefully  studied,  as  having  an 
important  bearing  on  the  matter  of  in-breeding  in  the  Messenger 
family.  Doubtless  the  greatest  excellences  are  to  be  derived  from 
in-breeding  in  that  blood — not  in  doing  so  closely  or  directly,  but 
after  proper  outcrosses  and  at  judiciously  chosen  intervals.  Close  and 
repeated  in-breeding  in  that  family  will  cause  a  retrograde  in  trotting 
quality,  while  in-breeding  after  proper  outcrosses  and  at  suitable  in- 
tervals will  enhance  its  value  and  greatly  promote  its  adaptation  to 
the  trotting  gait. 

The  most  impressive  trotting  stallions  we  have  yet  seen  were  not  as- 
successful  with  the  mares  deep  and  closely  in-bred  in  Messenger  blood 
as  with  those  that  possessed  more  remote  and  feeble  strains  of  that 
blood.  Instances  illustrating  the  disappointment  of  most  sanguine 
hopes  in  this  respect  will  be  given  in  the  progress  of  this  work. 

A  further  consideration  of  the  qualities  of  Messenger  is  reserved 
for  the  chapter  on  Hambletonian  and  the  subsequent  illustrations 
presented  in  this  work. 


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BELLFOUJ^DER.  123 


IMPORTED  BELLFOUNDER. 

In  the  equine  history  of  this  country  the  horse  of  controversy  has. 
been  Bellfounder.  He  has  been  the  source  of  more  conflicting  opin- 
ions than  any  other.  By  one  class  he  has  been  over-estimated;  by 
another  he  has  been  totally  under-estimated;  by  another  he  has, 
furthermore,  been  willfully  misrepresented.  It  is  clear  that  he  has  not 
been  properly  understood  by  either  class.  He  had  great  merit,  and 
has  transmitted  but  a  part  of  it,  and  has  not  received  the  credit  due 
him  for  the  part  he  has  transmitted.  He  secured  reputation  to  others 
when  they  were  not  entitled  to  it  from  any  excellences  they  possessed 
not  derived  from  him.  He  possessed  elements  of  demerit  that  were 
not  understood  by  his  friends  or  defamers,  and  which  stood  in  the  way 
of  his  greatest  success  and  yet  operate  to  detract  from  the  usefulness 
of  those  possessing  strains  of  his  blood.  He  was  an  uncertain  horse 
to  cross  on  other  strains  of  blood. 

To  his  credit,  be  it  said,  his  most  earnest  friends  and  most  ardent 
admirers  were  those  who  knew  him  best,  while  those  who  would 
lightly  esteem  him  knew  but  little  of  him;  and  it  may  be  said  of  him- 
who  has  been  his  chief  defamer  and  assailant,  that  he  actually  under- 
stood nothing  of  either  the  merits  of  the  horse  or  the  peculiar  qual- 
ities that  entered  into  his  composition,  which  gave  him  his  renown  or 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  success.  With  this  one,  blind  and  willful  preju- 
dice was  the  guiding  star.  To  such  an  extent  was  he  willing  to 
carry  his  detraction,  that  in  the  face  of  living  and  reputable  men  who 
knew  the  horse  well,  while  in  the  early  and  palmy  days  of  his  career, 
and  w^ho  had  intimate  personal  knowledge  of  the  facts  relative  to  his 
purchase  in  England,  his  importation  to  this  country,  the  day  of  his 
arrival,  the  ship  in  which  he  was  imported,  the  persons  in  whose 
custody  he  was  placed,  and  all  the  facts  of  his  career  of  twenty  years 
in  this  country,  this  intelligent  organ  of  popiilar  instruction  on  the 
subject  of  the  horse  was  ready  to  deny  that  Bellfounder  was  an 
imported  horse,  and  to  assert  that  he  was  a  spurious  Kanuck.  For 
the  furtherance  of  this  aimless  detraction,  after  the  horse  had  been 
dead  nearly  forty  years,  this  same  oracle  of  equine  history  caused  a 
search  to  be  made  at  the  reputed  port  of  importation,  for  the  bottom 
facts  relating  to  the  imposition  that  had  been  practiced  on  the  Ameri- 
can people,  in  the  matter  of  the  fable  of  the  Norfolk  trotter,  and 
when   the    individual   thus    commissioned   furnished   the    indubitable 


124  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

proofs,  both  in  regard  to  the  facts  of  importation  and  ownership,  and, 
in  addition,  many  interesting  particulars  in  regard  to  the  history  and 
character  of  the  animal,  the  disappointment  of  the  distinguished 
friend  of  the  horse  could  only  find  vent  in  an  effort  to  demolish  the 
reputation  of  one  Samuel  Jaques,  who  for  many  years  had  control  of 
Bellfounder. 

The  gentleman  through  whose  efforts  the  facts  concerning  the 
importation  of  Bellfounder  have  been  given  to  the  public,  being  a 
man  of  intelligence  and  candor,  after  communicating  to  the  editor 
aforesaid  what  seemed  to  be  all  the  .materials  required  to  settle  the 
question,  and  having  therefor  received  what  he  complained  of  as  a 
*' sharp  criticism,"  wrote  again,  "that  so  much  trash  and  nonsense  has 
been  spread  before  the  public  regarding  Bellfounder,  by  writers  who 
evidently  know  nothing  whatever  of  the  facts  in  his  history,  that  I  felt 
it  a  duty,  though  at  considerable  trouble  and  expense,  to  place  on 
record,  from  word  of  mouth,  those  truths  which  otherwise  would  soon 
be  swept  from  human  research."  While  this  remark  was  directed  to 
the  editor  himself,  it  may  be  proper  here  to  say  that  it  applies  to 
many  others,  though  in  a  less  degree  besides  the  one  to  whom  it  was 
addressed.  Through  the  kindness  of  this  gentleman  I  have  received 
a  lengthy  statement,  from  which,  in  connection  with  his  letters  already 
made  public,  there  is  presented  the  following  summary  of  historical 
facts: 

Bellfounder  was  bred  in  the  vicinity  or  district  of  Norfolk,  Eng- 
land, and  was  there  purchased  by  James  Boott,  of  Boston,  and  shipped 
from  Liverpool  to  Boston  in  the  ship  Rasselas,  Captain  Jackson, 
arriving  in  the  latter  city  on  the  11th  day  of  July,  1822,  as  appears 
from  the  custom  house  entry;  the  entry  being  sworn  to  by  John  W. 
Boott,  brother  of  the  importer,  and  the  value  of  the  horse  as  per 
invoice,  being  stated  at  three  hundred  pounds  sterling. 

Mr.  Levi  S.  Gould,  of  Boston,  the  gentleman  to  whom  the  public 
are  indebted  for  the  facts  relating  to  Bellfounder's  importation  and 
history,  says: 

Who  was  James  Boott,  the  importer  and  life-long  owner  of  this  horse;  and 
who  was  Samuel  Jaques,  Jr.,  his  first  manager?  Happily,  from  a  lifetime 
spent  in  Boston  and  the  adjacent  county  of  Middlesex,  I  am  familiar  with  the 
reputation  of  both  these  gentlemen.  About  the  year  1775  an  Englishman 
named  Kirk  Boott  settled  in  Boston,  and,  fortune  favoring,  was  soon  estab- 
lished as  a  merchant  on  State  street,  in  connection  with  three  sons,  John  W., 
Kirk  and  James.  About  the  year  1821  this  firm  was  dissolved.  James  retired 
from  active  business,  and  with  a  competency  devoted  himself  to  such  rational 


IMPORTED    BELLFOUNDEK.  125 

enjoyments  as  could  be  found  in  the  life  of  a  sportsman  (not  gambler)  of  the 
olden  time.  He  was  a  bachelor,  and  resided  at  the  family  mansion  of  the 
Bootts,  one  of  the  finest  of  its  day,  remodeled  into  our  crack  hotel,  for  that 
prince  among  landlords,  the  late  Paran  Stevens,  and  is  the  Revere  House  of 
to-day.  Becoming  a  great  sufterer  from  some  chronic  complaint,  he  went 
abroad  about  the  year  1833,  and  died  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Boott,  a  brother,  in. 
the  city  of  London. 

Col.  Jaques  was  born  in  Wilmington,  near  Boston,  in  1776,  and  died  in 
1859,  honored  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  they  were  legion.  He 
obtained  a  competency  previous  to  middle  life,  and  for  manj  years  occupied 
an  elegant  residence,  with  quite  a  large  estate  attached,  on  Washington  street, 
in  the  then  town  of  Charlestown.  In  a  spacious  box-stall,  built  especially  for 
his  comfort,  stood  Bellfounder,  from  July,  1833,  to  December,  1838.  In  1831 
Col.  Jaques,  having  met  with  severe  financial  reverses,  caused  by  the  failure 
of  a  commission  house  in  England,  to  whom  he  had  made  heavy  shipmeuts 
of  hops,  purchased  the  celebrated  Ten  Hills  farm,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mystic 
river,  within  the  confines  of  Charlestown,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the 
breeding  of  first-class  stock. 

Mr.  Jaques  became  eminent  as  a  breeder  of  fine  cattle,  and  in  this  respect 
his  reputation  was  national.  He  also  bred  many  fine  horses,  and  besides  Bell- 
founder,  owned  or  controlled  Whistle  Jacket,  a  runner,  Sherman  Morgan, 
Black  Hawk,  Columbus,  an  imported  English  dray  horse,  and  some  others  not 
worth  mentioning.  Bellfounder  never  went  to  Ten  Hills,  but  was  leased  by 
his  owner  for  five  hundred  dollars  per  year,  and  sent  to  New  York  in  1838. 
Under  the  management  of  Col.  Jaques  he  did  a  good  business,  and  left  numer- 
ous colts  in  New  England,  some  of  which  were  very  powerful  and  fast,  but 
they  were  all  late  in  coming  to  maturity,  and  showed  no  speed  until  seven  or 
eight  years  of  age,  when  they  came  with  a  rush.  One  of  these  was  known  as 
the  Lowell  colt,  and  belonged  to  a  gentleman  of  that  name  in  Salem,  who  paid 
five  hundred  dollars  for  her  at  three  years  of  age.  At  seven  she  is  represented 
to  have  been  very  fast. 

Three  sons  of  Col.  Jaques  are  now  living,  viz.,  Samuel,  William  and 
George.  Samuel,  the  oldest,  is  well  advanced  in  years,  but,  with  mental  fac- 
ulties unimpaired,  bids  fair  to  last  for  many  years.  Their  recollection  is 
remarkably  clear,  and  no  question  can  be  asked  in  relation  to  their  father's 
aftairs  which  they  can  not  answer  at  once.  William  says  he  rode  Bellfounder 
many  times,  and  always  found  him  level-headed,  and  gentle  as  a  lamb.  He 
thinks  he  could  trot  with  perfect  ease  in  three  minutes,  and  keep  it  up  for 
many  miles.  He  once  led  him  by  the  side  of  a  running  horse  fifteen  miles, 
and,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  drove  as  tight  as  he  could  most  of  the  way," 
without  Bellfoimder's  leaving  his  feet  at  all.  During  the  entire  distance  the 
halter  rojje  was  always  loose,  and  with  head  aloft  he  gazed  around  as  though 
it  was  nothing  more  than  exercise.  Neither  of  them  know  anything  of  hia 
history  previous  to  leaving  England,  other  than  is  expressed  in  the  pedigree 
herewith,  every  word  of  which  they  religiously  believe.  The  Colonel  was 
possessed  of  a  painting  of  Bellfounder  in  trotting  action,  executed  by  an  artist 
named  Fisher,  which  he  loaned  Mr.  Boott.     While  this  painting  hung  in  Mr, 


126  OKIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING    BLOOD. 

B.'s  house  some  miscreant  cut  it  from  the  frame,  and  it  has  never  been  seen  in 
this  locality  since.  Bellfounder's  marks  were  as  follows,  viz. :  A  large  star  in 
the  forehead,  a  little  white  on  the  end  of  his  nose,  a  portion  of  the  rear  hind 
pastern  was  white,  and  there  was  a  sprinkling  of  white  over  the  outer  coronet 
of  the  oil"  forward  foot.  There  was  also  a  white  mark  just  back  of  the  with- 
ers, caused  probably  by  a  saddle  gall.  He  was  plump  in  form,  and  muscular 
in  all  his  parts.  He  had  a  fine,  slashing  gait,  and  in  the  hands  of  skillful 
men,  such  as  our  trotting  trainers  of  the  present  day,  would  doubtless  ha\'e 
attained  great  speed.  The  pedigree  of  Bellfounder  herewith  given,  was  the 
one  originally  furnished  by  the  importer,  and  first  published,  over  the  signa- 
ture of  Col.  Jaques,  in  the  Columbian  Centinel  of  April  7,  1824.  This  paper  is 
■on  file  at  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society  in  Boston.  You  will  notice  that 
it  materially  differs  from  any  pedigree  heretofore  published. 

I  should  have  stated,  when  speaking  of  the  Boott  family,  that  William,  a 
younger  brother  of  James,  is  still  living  in  Boston.  He  tells  me  that  James 
went  to  Europe  many  times  during  his  life,  and  it  was  upon  one  of  these  trips 
that  Bellfounder  was  purchased.  The  Boott  family  estate  was  in  Derby,  some 
forty  or  fifty  miles  from  Norfolk,  and  he  has  no  doubt  but  that  his  brother 
went  over  and  purchased  the  horse  there,  and  knew  what  he  was  buying.  He 
has  no  records  in  his  possession  to  prove  the  pedigree,  and  knows  nothing  of 
its  truth,  save  this :  having  been  in  England  about  1823,  and  some  years  after- 
ward he  distinctly  recollects  that  a  horse  named  Bellfounder  then  existed,  and 
he  thinks  he  was  a  Norfolk  trotter  of  high  repute.  He  also  states  that  James 
imported  a  gelding  named  Defiance,  also  a  Norfolk  trotter.  His  brother  once 
started  with  the  old  mail  coach  from  Providence,  which  had  several  relays  on 
the  road,  but  Defiance  led  them  all  the  way,  and  reached  Boston  some  time  in 
advance.  When  the  drivers  and  passengers  came  to  the  stable,  expecting  to 
find  this  wonderful  roadster  dead,  he  was  quietly  eating  his  oats  as  though 
nothing  unusual  had  taken  place. 

Subsequently,  and  after  the  sharj^  criticism  of  which  Air.  Gould 
complained,  he  found  one  William  Boutwell,  an  aged  and  very  repu- 
table man,  a  cousin  of  the  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Geo.  S. 
Boutwell.  This  Mr.  Boutwell  was  in  the  employ  of  Col.  Jaques,  and 
had  charge  of  Bellfounder  for  four  years.  He  stated  that  one  Samuel 
Jones  had  charge  of  the  horse  for  a  short  time  previous  to  himself,  and 
that  he  succeeded  William  Baxter,  a  thoroughgoing  English  jockey, 
who  accompanied  the  horse  from  Great  Britain.  This  Mr.  Boutwell 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  owner  of  the  horse,  Mr.  James  Boott, 
and  often  talked  with  him  when  he  called  at  the  stable  where  the 
animal  was  kept.  Mr.  Boutwell  also  furnished  Mr.  Gould  with  an  old 
card  on  which  was  printed  an  advertisement  with  blanks  for  the  date 
in  full  and  the  price  of  service,  but  which  was  filled  out  exactly  as 
follows,  viz. : 


IMPOKTED    BELLFOUNDBR.  127 

J.  Drewry,  Printer,  Derby. 


THE  WONDERFUL  NORFOLK  TROTTER, 

IMPORTED  JULY  1 S22  from    ENGLAND, 

TO    COVER 

THIS    SEASON,    I82j 

At  20  Dollars  aud  — / —  Shillings  the  Groom. 
The  Money  to  be  paid  to  the  Qroom  at  Covering. 


This  celebrated  Horse  is  a  beautiful  bright  Bay,  with  black  legs,  7  years 
old,  standing  15  hands  high;  his  superior  blood,  symmetry,  and  aclioii  excel 
every  other  trotting  Stallion.  He  is  allowed  by  the  best  Judges  in  Norfolk  to 
be  the  fastest  and  best  bred  Horse  ever  sent  out  of  that  County.  He  has 
proved  himself  a  sure  foal  getter,  and  his  Stock  for  size  aud  substance  are 
not  to  be  surpassed ;  thej'  are  selling  at  the  highest  prices  of  any  Horses  in 
Norfolk. 

BELLFOUNDER  was  got  by  that  well  known  fast  and  high  formed  Trotter 
Old  Bellfou^stder,  out  of  Velocity,  by  Haphazard,  by  Sir  Peter,  out  of  Miss 
Hervey,  by  Eclipse ;  grandam  was  of  good  North  Country  Blood,  but  not 
thorough  bred.  Velocity,  trotted  on  the  Norwich  road  in  1806  sixteen  miles 
in  one  hour,  and  tho'  she  broke  15  times  into  a  gallop,  and  as  often  turned 
round,  won  her  match.  In  1808  she  trotted  Twenty-eigM  miles  in  one  hour 
and  47  minutes,  and  has  also  done  many  other  great  performances  against 
time. 

Bellfounder  at  five  years  old  trotted  Two  miles  in  Six  minutes  and  m  the 
following  year  was  matched  for  300  guineas  to  trot  Nine  miles  in  Thirty 
minvtes,  which  he  won  easily  by  Twenty  two  seconds.  His  Owner,  shortly  after 
challenged  to  perform  with  him  Seventeen  miles  and  a  half  in  one  hour,  bvt  it 
was  not  accepted.     He  has  since  never  been  saddled  or  matched. 

Old  Bellfounder  was  a  true  descendant  from  the  original  blood  of  the 
Fireaways,  which  breed  of  Horses  stands  imrivalled  for  the  Saddle,  either  in 
this  or  any  other  nation.  Bellfouxder  is  strongly  recommended  to  the 
public,  by  Mr.  S.  Goocn,  of  Chelmsford,  and  by  Mr.  "Woodfield,  Moorfields, 
London. 

iftancL  at  if  ami.  faqiiei    fi  ^   ifiaile  in  * 
(gliauedtoimij    aJlaa^ 


128  ORTGITiTAL   SOURCES    OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

Mr.  Boutwell  stated  that  he  received  that  card  in  1823  when  he 
took  charge  of  the  horse,  and  that  he  understood  these  cards  were 
printed  in  Ensfland  by  order  of  Mr.  Boott,  and  sent  here,  with  the 
dates  and  prices  of  service  to  be  filled  out  from  yeai-  to  year  a& 
occasion  might  require. 

The  points  that  have  been  selected  in  this  account  as  particularly 
assailable,  are  the  performances  of  Velocity  and  her  pedigree.  To 
this  the  reply  is  obvious,  that  Mr.  Boott  was  not  the  breeder  and  took 
the  horse  with  the  account  furnished  him  in  the  district  where  he  had 
been  bred  and  kept,  and  if  these  people  were  strictly  infallible  and 
perfectly  accurate  on  all  matters  that  pertained  to  the  descent  and 
performances  of  horseflesh,  they  showed  no  traits  of  kinship  to  their 
American  cousins.  Besides,  the  accuracy  of  the  pedigree  can  only  be 
impeached  by  the  age  of  the  horses — Haphazard  and  Velocity — it 
being  alleged  that  the  first  foal  of  Haphazard  was  not  dropped  until 
after  1806,  the  date  of  this  performance.  If  the  identity  of  these 
animals  is  shown  or  conceded,  then  this  only  shows  that  this  mare 
Velocity  was  not  the  daughter  of  Haphazard,  or  that  a  mistake  has  been 
made  in  the  date  of  her  alleged  performance,  but  no  way  touches  the 
fact  of  her  being  the  dam  of  imported  Bellfounder.  As  to  the  per- 
formance of  Velocity  on  the  Norwich  road  it  is  reasonable  to  grant  the 
same  allowance  for  it  that  must  be  made  for  many  alleged  perform- 
ances in  this  country  where  the  record  is  silent. 

Some  very  notable  examples  have  occurred  at  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning,  or  on  a  Sunday  or  some  other  occasion  in  the  presence  of 
several  reliable  gentlemen,  that  have  been  questioned  quite  as  severe- 
ly as  the  performance  above  referred  to.  But  after  all,  the  only 
error  may  be  in  the  date  of  her  alleged  performance.  There  are 
many  persons  now  living  who  well  remember  Bellfounder  and  bear 
testimony  to  his  natural  trotting  action,  such  as  can  scarcely  be 
applied  to  any  horse  of  our  own  day,  because  not  precisely  like  it. 
It  is  also  evident  that  such  was  the  reputation  of  the  horse  in  his  own 
day,  and  that  such  repixtation  extended  from  Boston  to  New  York, 
and  was  strongly  impressed  on  the  minds  and  memories  of  many  per- 
sons of  that  day  in  these  respective  localities.  Mr.  Gould  further 
says : 

In  my  conversation  with  William  Boutwell,  I  asked  him  if  he  ever  saw  the 
old  lior^  trot  at  his  speed.  In  reply,  he  stated  that  he  was  never  saddled  but 
once  to  his  knowledge,  it  being  the  custom  to  lead  him  by  the  side  of  a  run- 
ning horse  in  his  exercise,  or  walk  him  as  occasion  required.  On  this  occasion, 
however,  a  gentleman  came  to  Charlestown  from  New  York,  especially  to  see 


IMPORTED   BELLFOUNDER.  129 

him  in  motion.  The  running  horse  had  been  disposed  of  some  time  before, 
and  Bellfounder  had  received  nothing  but  walking  exercise  for  a  long  time, 
and  was  in  no  condition  to  show.  However,  Col.  Jaques  ordered  him  saddled, 
and  he  (Boutwell)  mounted,  endeavoring  to  trot  him  in  a  circle  marked  out  in 
a  large  field  near  the  house.  He  started  on  a  run,  and  could  not  be  brought 
down.  Finallj*,  Col.  Jaques,  out  of  all  patience,  directed  him  to  let  him  have 
his  head,  and  run  until  he  was  satisfied.  This  proved  successful ;  and  in  a  few 
moments  he  struck  a  magnificent  stride  and  trotted,  until  the  gentleman  threw 
up  his  hands  and  exclaimed  that  he  was  perfectly  satisfied,  and  ready  to  believe 
all  he  had  heard  or  read  about  him. 

From  information  that  has  been  more  recently  made  public  by  the 
brother  of  James  Boott,  it  has  been  definitely  ascertained  that  the 
horse  Bellfounder  cost  in  England  the  sum  of  seven  hundred  pounds 
sterlino-,  from  which  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  value  or  estimation 
that  was  placed  upon  him  ia  the  place  where  he  was  bred. 

I  dismiss  this  part  which  pertains  to  the  question  of  controversy 
about  liis  importation — a  fact  which  nobody  ever  doubted,  and  turn  to 
the  inquiry  as  to  the  origin  and  blood  qualities  of  this  horse. 

So  little  interest  has  been  taken  in  the  trotting  horse  in  England, 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  obtain  any  light  on  the  blood  or 
■descent  of  those  animals  that  have  shown  adaptation  to  the  trotting 
gait,  notwithstanding  that  the  original  and  parent  stock  of  our  best 
trotting  horses  came  from  England,  and  there  acquired  their  instincts 
and  mental  as  well  as  physical  traits,  which  have  in  this  country  devel- 
oped into  such  great  superiority  on  the  road  and  track.  We  have 
heard  much  of  the  Norfolk  trotters,  and  in  the  card  above  set  forth 
which  accompanied  Bellfounder  from  England,  and  was  undoubtedly 
printed  there,  we  are  told  that  he  was  seven  years  old  in  1833,  and 
that  his  superior  blood,  symmetry  and  action  excel  every  other  trotting 
stallion;  that  he  was  allowed  by  the  best  judges  in  Norfolk  to  be  the 
fastest  and  best  bred  horse  ever  sent  out  of  that  county;  that  he  had 
proved  himself  a  sure  foal  getter,  and  that  his  stock  w^ere  sellino"  at 
the  highest  prices  of  any  in  Norfolk;  that  he  at  five  years  of  ao-e  had 
trotted  two  miles  in  six  minutes,  and  in  the  following  year  was  matched 
to  trot  nine  miles  in  thirty  minutes,  and  accomplished  the  feat  easily, 
having  twenty- two  seconds  to  spare;  that  his  owner  shortly  after 
challenged  to  perform  with  him  seventeen  and  a  half  miles  in  one  hour 
but  it  was  not  accepted;  that  since  that  time  he  had  never  been  sad- 
dled or  matched.  Such  were  the  statements  made  concerning  him  by 
his  impoiter  at  the  time  of  his  importation,  and  in  this  connection  it 
may  be  stated,  that  Mr.  Gould  obtained  from  another  aged  gentleman, 


130      ORIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  TROTTING  BLOOD. 

Mr.  Alfred  Worcester,  the  statement  that  he  was  employed  in  the 
office  of  Col.  Jaques  from  1818  until  1836,  and  distinctly  remembered 
Mr.  Boott  as  a  gentleman — a  horseman  who  frequently  came  to  that 
office  and  talked  with  Col.  Jaques  about  importing  a  horse;  and  that 
he  remembers  the  horse,  and  that  all  the  time  he  was  in  possession  of 
Col.  Jaques,  Mr.  Boott  appeared  as  the  owner.  From  this  it  reasona- 
bly appears  that  pursuant  to  some  plan  or  understanding  between 
Col.  Jaques  and  Mr.  Boott,  the  latter  selected  and  imported  the  horse^ 
and  caused  the  cards  to  be  printed  in  England  which  accompanied  the 
importation;  and  further,  that  both  he  and  Col.  Jaques  were  persuad- 
ed of  the  authenticity  of  the  pedigree  given,  and  the  other  state- 
ments made  concerning  the  family  and  performances  of  Bellfounder, 
It  is  further  stated  that  he  was  by  that  well-known,  fast  and  high- 
formed  trotter.  Old  Bellfounder,  and  that  he  was  a  true  descendant 
from  the  original  blood  of  the  Fireaxcays — a  breed  of  horses  standing 
unrivaled  for  the  saddle,  either  in  this  or  any  other  nation.  The  dis- 
trict of  Norfolk  has  been  noted  for  trotting  matches  that  rival  some  of 
our  own.  In  a  veterinary  work  published  in  1835,  by  George  Skeav- 
ington,  entitled  the  "  Model  Farrier,"  we  have  an  account  of  a  large 
number  of  trotting  performances,  among  others,  of  a  mare  called 
Nonpareil,  trotting  in  a  vehicle  called  a  match-cart,  one  hundred  miles 
in  nine  hours  and  fifty-seven  seconds.  She  was  owned  by  Mr.  Dixon, 
of  Knightsbridge,  and  was  driven  by  W.  Stacy,  of  Kingston.  Her 
sire  was  "  Fireaway,"  owned  by  Wm.  Flanders,  of  Little  Port,  Isle 
of  Ely;  these  places  all  being  in  the  county  of  Norfolk  or  adjacent 
thereto.  The  same  work  speaks  of  the  Fireaways  as  having  better 
staying  qualities  than  some  other  of  their  trotting  stock. 

In  the  old  Spirit  of  the  Times,  Vol.  IX,  there  appeared  an  article,, 
copied  from  the  Ziondon  Sunday  Times,  May,  1839,  relating  to  Mr. 
Theobald's  stud — being  a  description  of  his  several  stallions.  The 
following  relates  to  the 

NORFOLK    PHENO^rENON. 

This  extraordinary  animal  was  bred  by  Mr.  Wayman,  of  Lillyput,  in  the  Isle 
of  Ely.  He  was  got  by  Fireaway,  out  of  a  Shields  mare,  and  is  reputed  to  be 
the  fastest  trotter  that  ever  stepped.  He  is  known  to  have  performed  two 
miles  in  five  minutes  and  four  seconds,  and  is  also  said  to  have  trotted  twentj''- 
four  miles  an  hour.  This  surpasses  the  celebrated  Phenomenon  mare  or  any 
performances  of  the  fastest  American  horses.  He  has  a  crest  resembling  the 
Godolphin  Arabian,  is  short-legged,  but  standing  over  a  great  length  of  ground. 
He  is  as  strong  as  a  buti'alo;  indeed,  his  great  muscular  delineation,  and  the 


IMPORTED   BELLFOUNDER.  131 

immensity  of  his  bone,  give  him  the  resemblance  of  an  animal  of  that  class. 
He  shows,  however,  a  vast  deal  of  blood.  His  color  is  bay ;  he  has  lost  both 
eyes,  but  is  in  other  respects  totally  free  from  blemish,  very  quiet,  of  excel- 
lent constitution,  and  remarkably  safe  goer,  notwithstanding  his  almost  incred- 
ible speed. 

Mr.  Lawrence,  the  author  quoted  in  the  previous  part  of  this  chap- 
ter, says  that  "  to  Shields  and  Useful  Cub  the  Isle  of  Ely,  Cambridge- 
shire and  Norfolk  are  in  a  great  measure  indebted  for  their  fame  in 
the  production  of  capital  hackneys."  This  would  tend  to  show  that 
this  region  had  some  "  fame  "  in  regard  to  its  trotting  or  road  horses 
before  Mr.  Boott  went  there  for  Bellfounder.  I  have  in  the  previous 
part  of  this  chapter  shown  that  the  dam  of  Useful  Cub  was  by  a  son 
of  Sampson,  which  would  show  that  the  stock  or  blood  of  Sampson 
was  recognized  in  this  district  as  of  value  in  the  coach  or  trotting 
horse.  It  is  further  stated  that  this  Useful  Cub  was  produced  by  a 
Suffolk  cart-horse  from  a  daughter  of  Golden  Farmer,  a  son  of  Samp- 
son, from  which  the  inference  would  be  very  strong  that  the  blood 
and  trotting  quality  came  from  the  dam  or  granddaughter  of  Sampson. 

Mr.  Lawrence  says  that  Shields — also  called  Shales  and  Scott — was 
a  son  of  Blank ;  hence,  he  regards  Blank  as  the  father  of  the  trotting 
famiUes  of  England.  Blank  was  a  thoroughbred  son  of  Godolphin 
Arabian,  and  had  perhaps  as  much  to  do  in  implanting  the  trotting 
instincts  in  this  family  as  Blaze  had  in  imparting  them  to  Sampson, 
the  dam  of  Shields  having  doubtless  been-  a  road  mare  that  possessed 
such  qualities  and  the  ability  to  transmit  the  same. 

Lawrence  says  the  dam  of  Useful  Cub  was  a  chapman's  mare — by 
which  we  understand  a  mare  driven  by  a  marketman  or  peddler — and 
as  she  was  a  granddaughter  of  Sampson,  the  inquiry  is  suggested, 
whether  she  was  the  equal  of  her  kindred  in  blood  and  occupation, 
the  dam  of  Hambletonian  and  that  of  Goliah  and  Mambrino  Chief. 
History  repeats  itself. 

The  same  author  says  the  trotting  stock  of  Cub  have  run  too  much 
upon  the  round  shoulder  and  buttock,  and  have  been  more  remarka- 
ble for  their  speed  than  stoutness.  He  also  speaks  of  the  then  fastest 
trotter  ever  tried  in  England  as  having  been  bred  in  Norfolk.  He 
was  called  Archer,  and  was  supposed  to  have  been  by  old  Shields. 
He  trotted  a  mile  under  three  minutes. 

Mr.  Lawrence  further  says: 

As  Archer  was  the  speediest,  the  well  known  brown  mare  which  died  the 
property  of  Bishop  proved  herself  the  stoutest,  that  is  to  say,  the  most  lasting 
trotter  in  the  world.    This  mare  was  full  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  high,  with 


]82       OEIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  TROTTING  BLOOD. 

bone  enough  to  carry  twenty  stone ;  showed  some  blood,  with  a  mixture  of  the 
cart  breed,  such  as  we  frequently  see  in  farmers'  hacks.  Her  neck  was  short, 
her  forehand  well  elevated,  her  shoulder  deep  and  counter  form,  but  not 
oblique,  nor  was  she  proportionally  deep  in  the  girth.  She  had  sufficient  gen- 
eral length,  but  was  not  long  in  the  back,  yet  had  plenty  of  room  between  her 
ribs  and  huggon  bones,  with  good  fillets.  Her  quarters  were  amply  spread 
and  stood  well  before.  In  her  latter  days  she  was  a  dashing  goer,  inclining  to 
run,  but  was  never  remarkable  for  speed,  nor  ever  able,  as  I  imderstand,  to" 
trot  a  mile  in  three  minutes.  In  the  year  1783,  or  thereabouts,  she  trotted  over 
the  Epsom  road  sixteen  miles  in  fifty-eight  and  one-half  minutes,  carrying 
twelve  stone. 

We  have  also  an  account  of  Black  Tom,  foaled  about  1789,  by 
Black  Smuo-gler,  there  being  several  Smugglers  of  considerable  fame. 
The  dam  of  Black  Tom  was  by  Useful  Cub.  He  was  a  Norfolk  trot- 
ter. When  four  years  old  he  trotted  sixteen  miles  in  leSs  than  an 
hour;  when  five  years  old  he  trotted  sixteen  and  a  half  miles  within 
an  hour,  and  in  the  same  year  trotted  sixteen  miles  in  fifty-seven  min- 
utes ten  seconds.  He  made  several  other  performances  in  about  the 
same  time,  beating  the  best  horses  in  England. 

In  this  same  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  1790  there 
was  imported  from  England  a  horse  called  Nimrod,  and  all  his  lifetime 
called  a  Norfolk  trotter.  He  was  at  all  times  claimed  to  be  more  than 
an  ordinary  trotter.  He  was  bred  by  T.  Jenkinson,  the  owner  of 
Useful  Cub,  and  he  certifies  that  he  was  brother  to  that  horse,  "  which 
was  the  first  trotter  in  the  world."  He  also  states  that  his  dam  was 
by  Golden  Farmer,  son  of  Sampson,  and  that  both  these  latter  horses 
were  in  great  repute  in  the  breeding  counties. 

The  two  animals  last  named  bring  us  to  about  the  days  of  old  Bell- 
founder,  the  sire  of  imported  Bellfounder. 

Mr.  Lawrence  says  of  the  trotters  of  this  pei'iod  that  they  were  of 
two  distinct  shapes — the  one  blood  like,  with  the  counter  shoulder 
and  deep  girth;  the  other  of  the  round  barrel  and  buttock,  and  too 
often  of  the  round-legged  form.  The  former  were  obviously  enough 
bred  from  the  first  Shales  and  Pretender,  both  of  which  had  half  rac- 
ing blood,  the  latter  from  Useful  Cub.  Those  who  were  acquainted 
with  Bellfounder  in  this  country,  and  who  have  studied  the  physical 
conformation  and  blood  traits  of  his  descendants,  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  discovering  the  blood  features  and  predominant  characteris- 
tics of  both  of  these  classes  in  clearly  marked  outline. 

As  before  stated,  Bellfounder,  while  under  the  control  of  Col. 
Jaques,  was  leased  for  a  term  of  five  years  to  some  gentlemen  in  the 


IMPORTED   BELLFOUJSDER.  133 

State  of  New  York.    One  of  these  gentlemen,  Mr.  Timothy  T.  Ki^sam, 
describes  Bellfounder  as  follows: 

Imported  Bellfounder  had  a  small  head  and  ears ;  full,  prominent  eyes,  and 
wide  apart ;  neck  medium  length,  set  well  up  from  the  withers ;  shoulders 
deep  and  oblique ;  deep  girth  and  full  chested ;  fore  legs  well  apart  (not  wide) ; 
short  back,  roimd  ribbed,  and  very  broad  on  the  loin ;  hips  wide  and  well 
gathered  in ;  long,  full  quarters  to  hocks,  and  short  to  fetlocks ;  limbs  strong 
and  well  muscled ;  broad  and  flat  below  the  knees  and  hocks ;  pasterns  rather 
short ;  concave  hoofs  and  open  heels ;  tail  and  mane  full-haired ;  had  a  large 
star  in  forehead,  with  a  diamond  shape  on  end  of  nose  or  lip ;  one  hind  pastern 
white,  and  a  little  white  on  the  opposite  fore  foot  at  the  heel ;  (aged)  in  his 
teens. 

I  can  present  no  more  satisfactory  or  authoritative  outline  than  is 
contained  in  the  following,  from  one  of  the  best  knoAvn  and  prominent 
breeders  and  handlers  of  horses  in  America,  who  lives  within  sight  of 
Washingtonville,  Orange  county,  New  York,  where  Bellfounder  was 
kept  part  of  the  time  he  was  hired  to  Mr.  Kissam : 

Imported  Bellfounder  was  a  blood-bay  in  color,  with  a  bony,  strong  head, 
good  eyes  and  well  set;  his  ears  were  thick  and  rather  heavy;  neck  well 
formed,  but  short;  shoulders  thick  and  very  strong;  body  round,  and  back 
very  strong,  with  immensely  strong  quarters,  well  let  down,  and  joined  to  a 
crooked  hind  leg  and  a  large  bushy  tail.  In  height,  he  stood  about  fifteen  and 
a  quarter  hands.  When  brought  out  to  exhibit  his  speed,  he  seemed  full  of 
game  and  mettle,  but  very  controllable.  His  knee  action  was  veiy  attractive 
and  high,  and  when  Obed  (his  groom)  would  get  upon  his  bare  back  and  give 
him  his  head,  I  remember  of  but  one  horse  that  could  approximate  to  him  in 
speed  this  way  rigged,  which  was  the  famous  George  M.  Patchen.  Bellfounder 
was  remarkably  honest ;  having  seen  him  exhibited  a  number  of  times  at  full 
speed,  I  never  saw  him  leave  his  feet.  Hambletonian's  dam  was  by  this  great 
horse,  and  her  speed,  at  four  years  old,  was  very  great,  seldom  equaled,  even  in 
these  fast  times.  Her  colt,  by  Abdallah,  was  the  famous  Hambletonian — in 
color  he  is  a  dark  bay ;  height,  fifteen  and  a  half  hands,  with  rather  a  coarse 
head,  and  ears  large  and  heavy;  his  eyes  are  large  and  very  prominent,  but 
mild ;  neck  short,  but  thin  and  well  formed ;  shoulders  thick  and  rather  low, 
but  very  powerful;  body  round  and  well  formed,  back  strong  and  well 
coupled,  hips  long  but  narrow,  quarters  immense,  and  the  muscle  well  let 
down  to  the  hock ;  hind  legs  crooked  and  very  clean,  broad  and  strong,  for- 
ward arm  and  legs  strong,  and  joined  to  as  good  a  foot  as  ever  pressed  the 
earth.  His  tail  is  high  set  and  heavy,  and  when  led  out  he  carries  it  low  or 
close  to  his  body.  In  disposition  he  is  mild,  and  when  started  up  on  a  fast 
gait  his  action  is  good,  being  open-gaited  behind,  with  knee  action  very  like 
his  grandsire,  Bellfounder.  His  late  owner,  I  think,  was  always  proud  of  his 
Bellfounder  cross,  and  many  good  horsemen  think  him  indebted  to  this  cross 
for  his  mild  and  docile  qualities.  Let  this  be  as  it  may,  the  combination  cer- 
tainly produced  the  most  successful  stallion  of  modern  times. 

Alden  Goldsmith. 


134       OKIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  TROTTING  BLOOD. 

These  two  may  be  regarded  as  correct  general  descrijitions,  but  do 
not  throw  certain  or  particular  light  on  the  points  that  constitute  his 
characteristic  or  distinguishing  physical  conformation  as  a  trotter,  and 
to  which  he  owes  his  trotting  qualities. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  first  writer  speaks  of  his  long,  full  quar- 
ters to  hocks,  and  short  to  the  fetlocks,  and  that  the  other  gentleman 
speaks  of  his  immensely  strong  quarters,  well  let  down,  and  joined  to 
a  crooked  hind  leg. 

These  two  thus  in  some  respects  agree  as  to  some  peculiar  con- 
formation of  the  quarters  or  hind  legs,  in  their  own  way  giving  the 
idea  that  they  were  long  and  of  unusual  strength.  These  are  about 
the  usual  terms  in  which  the  best  of  horsemen  refer  to  such  points, 
yet  it  will  be  seen  they  fall  far  short  of  conveying  a  definite  and  pre- 
cise idea  concerning  one  of  the  important  points  which  constitute  the 
marked  peculiarity  in  the  physical  conformation  of  Bellfounder  and 
his  descendants.  It  will  be  observed  that  Bellfounder  was  not  a  large 
horse,  not  as  large  as  the  average  Messenger  by  one  inch  in  height, 
yet  from  a  close  study  of  his  descendants  and  those  of  other  families 
having  crosses  of  his  blood,  I  am  satisfied  that  he  possessed  a  thigh 
24  inches  in  length,  and  that  he  measured  40  inches  in  the  line  from 
his  hip  to  his  hock. 

It  is  a  phenomenon  incident  to  breeding  that  certain  families  are 
marked  by  a  certain  peculiarity  of  conformation   or  other  trait,  and 
which  they  transmit  to  and  engraft  on  all  other  stocks   with  which 
they  may  be  crossed,  however  much  they  may  yield  to  the  stock  thus 
united  Avith  in  other  matters.     In  this  one  matter  they  assert  their 
individuality.     Such  is  the   fact  regarding  this  peculiarity  of  confor- 
mation in  the  Bellfounder  family,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  was  one 
that  pertained  to  Sampson  and  to  all  the  other  road  or  trotting  horses 
of  Norfolk.     While  they  were  evidently  made  of  crosses  from  various 
bloods,  they  all  seemed  to  agree  in  the  one  common  trait  for  which 
they  were  chosen  and  bred:  in  their  adaptation  to  go  in  harness  or 
under  the  saddle,  at  the  trotting  gait.     This  being  a  common  and  estab- 
lished peculiarity  or  trait,  they  would  transmit  that  with  more  certainty 
and  uniformity  than  other   features  in  which  they  had  not  so  univer- 
sally agreed.     I  have  shown  that  the  Messenger  families  universally 
were  found  to  show  a  measure  of  23  and  39,  while  Hambletonian,  with 
one-quarter  of  his  composition  that  of  Bellfounder,  was  24  and  41, 
and  the  Clay  family — which,  as  we  shall  see  before  the  conclusion  of 
this  chapter,  is  nothing  but  a  Messenger  family  coming  through  a 


IMPORTED   BELLFOUNDER.  135 

source  that  gave  them  a  heavy  quarter  behind,  and  originally  a  longer 
one — still  adhered  to  the  same  length  of  limb  of  23  and  39,  except  in 
the  case  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay,  whose  dam   was  a  daughter  of  Bell- 
founder,  and  they  possess  the  peculiarity  referred  to  in  greater  degree 
than  any  known  family,  being  24  and  40   to  41  inches,  and  in  one  or 
two  instances  where  that  stock  again  crossed  with  Hambletonian  the 
reinforcement  of   the   blood  thus   derived  is  shown   in   a  line  of  42 
inches  from  hip  to  hock,  in  a  horse  fifteen  hands  and  three  inches  high. 
It  was  this  feature  that  gave  type  and  character  to  Bellfounder  as  a 
trotter.     He  was  in  reality  a  natural  trotter.     In  him  the  nervous  or 
mental  instincts  of  the  trotter  were  displayed  by  a  horse  that  had  also 
the  physical  conformation  that  adapted  him  to  the  trotting  gait.     In 
his  front  legs,  and  in  other  matters   of  physical  conformation,  he  did 
not  diifer  materially  from  the  Messenger  family.     That  they  had  many 
traits  in  common  is  clearly  proven  in  a  close  study  of  the  descendants 
of  each.     That  Bellfounder  was  possessed  of  the  blood  of  Sampson  and 
Useful  Cub  is  strongly  indicated  in  the  physical  and  mental  traits  of 
the  two  families  as  they  united  on   this  side  of  the   Atlantic.     That 
they  also  brought   along  their  points  of  dissimilarity,  is  also  ajDparent 
in  the  great  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  results  of  interbreeding  the  two 
elements  in  this  country.     The  blood  of  Sampson  in  Messenger  had 
come  through  a  long  channel  of  the  purest  Arab  blood.     It  had  so  far 
assimilated  mth  it  as  to  completely  embody  its  trotting  instinct  in 
the  positive  and  unyielding  nature  of  that  blood.     Such  a  blood  would 
be  potential  and  prevailing  as  a  sire,  but  would  not  in  a  female  yield 
to  the  less  impressive  qualities  of  a  mixed  or  cross-bred  sire.     It  might 
be  greatly  controlled  and  modified  in  certain  matters  of  form  and  phy- 
sique, but  in  the  essential  spirit  and  character  of  the  animal,  the  sire 
deeply  bred   in  the  pure  blood  of  the   Arab   would  not  yield  to  the 
spirit  and  mental  traits  of  the  lower  and  mixed-bred  sire.     Bellfounder 
as  a  trotter  was  greater  than   all  the   Messengers,  but  his  blood  was 
not  equal  to  theirs  in  purity  or  jDOsitive  quality.     Bellfounder  as  a  sire 
was  not  so  impressive  in  the  essential  matter  of  trotting  quality  as  he 
was  in  physical  conformation  and  external  traits.     His  blood  as  a  sire 
could  not  prevail  as  against  the  superior  and  stronger  currents  flowing 
from  Messenger,  but  when  that  blood  was  presented  in  the  female  and 
the    Messenger  of  high  trotting  quality  as  the   sire,  the    success  is 
marked  beyond  anything  that  the  history  of  bi'eeding  in  this  country 
has  ever  displayed.     From  one  daughter  of  Bellfounder  Abdallah  pro- 
duced Hambletonian,  and  from  another.  Sir  Walter,  his  fastest  trotter; 


136  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

from  clanorhtors  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay  and  others  of  Bellfounder  blood, 
and  the  in-bred  Messenger  sire,  came  Bodine,  St.  Julian,  Gazelle, 
Prospero,  Reform,  Dame  Trot,  Hogarth,  Elaine,  and  King  Philip. 

Lady  Alport  by  Mambrino,  dam  by  Tippoo  Saib,  second  dam  by 
Messenger,  while  too  closely  in-bred,  was  yet  regarded  as  a  superior 
mare.  She  had  two  sons  by  Bellfounder,  one  of  which  was  his  best 
son  probably — Brown's  or  Ohio  Bellfounder — and  while  as  to  form  he 
was  mainly  Bellfounder,  he  was  not  a  trotter  of  distinction,  and  has 
scarcely  left  a  trace  of  his  blood  in  the  trotting  stock  of  this  country. 
And  as  was  this  so  were  all  the  sons  of  Bellfounder — their  success  was 
not  sufficient  to  have  perpetuated  his  name.  That  a  grandson  of  the 
Norfolk  trotter  produced  Conqueror,  the  hundred-mile  trotter,  does 
not  detract  from  the  correctness  of  the  view  here  expressed,  since  the 
dam  of  that  great  performer  was  a  daughter  of  Bellfounder  himself. 

As  before  expressed,  Bellfounder  was  not  as  a  sire  so  impressive  as 
to  overcome  certain  traits  of  the  Messenger  blood,  while  in  other 
respects  he  showed  his  superiority  in  marked  degree.  In  all  that  per- 
tained to  color,  form  and  external  marks  he  seemed  to  stamp  his  image 
on  his  produce  with  wonderful  force  and  uniformity — but  in  the 
essential  and  controlling  instincts  of  the  trotter,  except  a  small  ])ut 
brilliant  list,  he  failed.  He  received  mares  that  were  of  the  richest 
Messenger  blood — but  the  produce,  except  the  Charles  Kent  mare  and 
Conqueror,  as  trotters,  were  not  equal  to  either  of  the  parents. 
They  each  seemed  to  counteract  the  trotting  qualities  of  the  other,  a 
thino-  that  often  occurs  in  breeding. 

While  Bellfounder  and  his  sons  were  not  impressive  sires  in  regard 
to  this  matter  of  trotting  quality,  it  must  also  be  conceded  that  his 
grandson  Hambletonian,  great  stallion  as  he  was,  was  quite  variable, 
and  failed  in  more  cases  than  he  succeeded.  His  uncertainty  origi- 
nated in  the  uncertain  and  unknown  elements  that  united  in  Bell- 
founder. The  latter  was  made  up  of  diverse  elements,  having  some- 
thing kindred  to  the  Messenger  but  much  that  was  entirely  foreign, 
and  the  blood  sometimes  worked  in  one  direction  and  often  in  another 
or  many,  as  is  the  case  when  there  is  a  conflict  between  blood  forces 
in  breeding  from  cross-bred  animals.  Although  a  distant  remove  from 
the  SuflFolk  Punch  cart  horse  he  most  likely  had  an  inheritance  from 
that  quality  which  now  and  then  asserted  itself.  It  must  be  conceded 
that  apparent  traces  of  this  cross  are  frequently  discernible  in  the 
descendants  of  Hambletonian.  Breeding  is  a  crucible  in  which  the 
alloy  often  comes  out  in  one  place  and  the  pure  jjold  in  another,  while 
they  sometimes  blend. 


i:^rPORTED   BELLFOUNDER.  187 

The  loud  clamor  of  many  of  those  who  speak  disparagingly  of 
Bellfounder  is,  that  he  had  no  success  outside  of  the  Messenger  blood. 
It  may  be  said,  in  reply,  that  the  Messenger  blood  found  its  chief  and 
most  brilliant  success  in  its  union  with  that  of  Bellfounder.  The  real 
fact  is,  that  the  Bellfounder  blood  constituted  the  one  needful  outcross 
for  the  Messenger. 

This  latter  blood,  as  I  have  shown,  was  displaying  tendencies  that 
had  to  be  counteracted.     The  lono-  in-breedino-  in  the  Arab  blood  was 

CD  kD 

fast  operating  on  the  Messenger  blood  to  the  impairing  of  the  trotting 
leverage  in  the  physical  conformation,  if  not  on  the  trotting  instincts 
in  the  nerve  organism.  It  was  necessary  to  counteract  this,  and  the 
Bellfounder  cross  met  the  demand  squarely.  The  blood  was  so  far 
familiar  that  it  did  not  operate  v/holly  as  a  foreign  or  violent  outcross, 
and  the  new  physical  elements  furnished  an  element  of  invigoration 
which  called  out  all  the  energies  and  vitality  of  the  blood  of 
Messenger.  The  result  is  known  and  seen  every  day  in  the  renown  of 
our  Hambletonian  family,  wiiich  as  a  trotting  family  stands  in  advance 
of  all  others. 

In  the  former  part  of  this  chapter,  in  considering  the  qualities  of 
Messenger,  we  have  seen  that  while  he  possessed  trotting  quality  in  an 
eminent  degree,  that  was  not  his  controlling  or  paramount  quality, 
and  that  the  result  of  close  in-breedino-  in  his  blood  caused  a  retroarrade 
of  trotting  inclination. 

A  study  of  Bellfounder  establishes  the  view  that  his  blood  had  two 
aspects:  first,  that  he  was  not  a  horse  that  had  long  been  bred  in  the 
same  line  of  blood,  that  he  was  made  up  of  recent  unions  of  diverse 
elements,  and  hence  was  not  in  the  matter  of  his  trotting  quality  an 
impressive  sire;  but  secondly,  that  his  prevailing  and  dominant  quality 
was  that  of  a  trotter.  Hence  it  is  clear  in  point  of  philosophy,  and 
experience  tends  to  confirm  the  view,  that  in-breeding  in  his  blood,  so 
far  as  it  can  be  done  with  reference  to  vigor  and  inherent  soundness, 
will  and  does  tend  to  increase  and  intensify  the  trotting  quality. 
Such,  I  have  no  doubt,  is  the  fact;  and  while  one  breeder  said  to  me, 
that  in  his  breeding  efforts  he  should  aim  to  get  away  from  this  blood 
as  far  as  possible,  I  will  advise,  as  I  did  in  the  first  published  series  of 
these  chapters,  that  the  breeder  get  as  close  to  it  and  as  often  as  can 
be  done  with  proper  reference  to  health  and  vigor  of  the  animals  to 
be  bred. 

There  are  two  aspects  in  which  in-breeding  in  the  Bellfounder  blood 
will  improve  the  American  trotter  of  Messenger  descent,  namely,  in 


138  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

the  matter  of  leverage;  it  will  lengthen  out  his  reach  or  distance  of 
stroke  in  his  rear  propellers,  and  it  will  increase  his  brain  or  mental 
inclination  toward  the  trotting  gait. 

In  the  chapter  on  Hambletonian,  and  in  that  part  of  Chapter  XIX 
devoted  to  Sayer's  Harry  Clay,  I  illustrate  this  proposition  fully.  In 
those  chapters,  and  in  the  other  frequent  references  I  shall  make  to 
this  peculiarity,  as  evidenced  in  these  two  descendants  of  Bellfounder, 
it  will  be  made  clear,  that  by  in-breeding  in  the  Bellfounder  blood, 
we  increase  the  peculiar  manifestations  by  which  it  marked  the 
Hambletonian  family,  both  in  the  matter  of  physical  conforma- 
tion, and  in  the  nerve  or  mental  impulses  of  the  trotting  horse. 
And  thus  I  believe  the  trotting  horse  of  this  country  is  yet  to 
gain  additional  speed  from  the  blood  of  the  Norfolk  trotter.  I  esti- 
mate that  his  value  to  the  American  roadster  and  trotting:  horse 
in  the  first  generation  after  the  union  was  made  available,  was 
equivalent  to  an  advance  of  ten  seconds  in  speed. 

In  conclusion  I  may  say,  in  regard  to  the  popular  estimate  of  the 
value  of  Bellfounder,  to  the  American  trotter,  that  while  it  is  true  that 
he  has  been  in  great  part  ignored  and  lightly  esteemed  in  general,  the 
fact  that  the  Messenger  horse  has  been  advanced  in  speed  an  average 
of  ten  seconds  or  more  by  union  with  his  blood;  that  the  famed  Abdal- 
lah  blood  has  nowhere,  outside  of  the  family  of  Hambletonian,  attained 
the  speed  or  availability  as  a  trotting  factor  which  it  has  reached  in 
that  union;  that  the  famed  American  Star  cross,  which  for  a  time 
was  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude,  has  already  begun  to  dim  in  lustre ; 
and  that  the  Duroc  cross,  with  all  its  richness  and  exuberance  as  an 
ingredient  in  the  trotter,  fails  to  show  its  inherent  and  independent 
superiority,  there  is  at  this  late  day  a  returning  tide  of  sentiment  in 
favor  of  the  value  of  Bellfounder  to  our  American  roadster. 

The  two  branches  of  that  blood  in  the  Hambletonians  and  the 
Sayer's  Harry  Clays,  and  the  occasional  lines,  though  dim  and  feeble, 
tracing  to  Ohio  Bellfounder  and  to  Latourettes  orTrempses  Bellfounder, 
or  other  almost  forgotten  branches,  now  and  then  come  out  as  in  tlie 
trotter  Conqueror,  an  in-bred  Bellfounder,  that  made  his  one  hundred 
miles  in  8  hours,  55  minutes  and  53  seconds ;  Sir  Walter,  the  fastest 
son  of  Abdallah,  and  whose  dam  was  by  Bellfounder,  that  trotted  a 
mile  by  the  record  in  2:27;  the  dam  and  grandam  of  King  Philip, 
the  young  son  of  Jay  Gould,  that  attained  a  record  of  2:21  at  five 
years  of  age;  the  Cromwell  filly,  in  Kentucky,  referred  to  in  the  chap, 
ter  on  Almont — all  combine  to  bring  again  the   opinion,  that  was  at 


DTJROC.  189 

one  day  held  by  the  friends  of  Bellfounder,  that  he  was  in  reality  the 
best  and  truest  representative  and  embodiment  of  perfect  trotting 
quality  ever  seen  on  our  continent.  The  late  recurrence  to  his  blood 
in  the  opportunities  now  being  presented  to  reunite  different  and  long 
separated  lines  from  him,  may  yet  result  in  giving  it  a  value  in  popu- 
lar estimation  far  above  any  that  it  has  heretofore  enjoyed. 

After  leaving  Boston,  Bellfounder  was  kept  on  Long  Island  and  in 
Orange  and  Duchess  counties  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  died  on 
Long  Island  in  1843,  having  served  in  this  country  for  about  twenty 
years — the  precise  period  that  Messenger  survived  after  his  importa- 
tion. 

A  further  consideration  of  the  qualities  of  Bellfounder  is  reserved 
for  the  chapter  on  Hambletonian,  and  the  chapter  on  Sayer's  Harry 
Clay. 


DUROC. 

Ik  tracing  the  origin  and  blood  elements  that  enter  into  our  Ameri- 
can roadsters,  the  Duroc  cross  must  not  be  omitted.  While  it  is  not 
certain — hardly  probable — that  he  had  any  trotting  quality  in  him- 
self, he  seemed  to  have  had  that  other  qualification,  a  certain  conforma- 
tion that  adapted  itself  to  the  trotting  gait,  and  when  united  with  the 
blood  of  Messenger  the  union  seemed  to  display  trotting  qiiality  of 
the  highest  order.  Its  relations  to  the  Messenger  blood  were  some- 
what similar  to  that  sustained  by  the  Bellfounder  cross;  and  the 
results,  while  dissimilar,  were  entirely  analogous.  It  gave  to  the 
Messenger  a  type  and  manner  of  going  marked  and  distinctive,  but 
totally  different  from  that  exhibited  in  the  union  with  the  Bellfounder. 

Duroc  was  a  large  and  powerful  chestnut,  fifteen  hands  three  inches 
high,  of  large  bone,  very  muscular,  and  possessed  of  the  spirit,  cour- 
age and  invincible  resolution  of  a  great  race-horse.  He  was  bred  by 
Wade  Mosby,  Esq.,  of  Powhattan  county,  Virginia,  and  was  foaled 
June  4,  1806,  two  years  before  the  death  of  Messenger.  His  sire  was 
imported  Diomed,  a  small  chestnut  horse  that  was  winner  of  the  first 
Derby  in  England,  and  was  imported  when  twenty -two  years  old,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  leaving  a  numerous  and  distinguished 
progeny,  his  blood  entering  into  nearly  every  great  family  of  race- 
horses in  America.  From  his  sire  Duroc  derived  serious  and  deeply- 
seated  blood  defects  and  infirmities,  besides  those  traits  from  which 


140  onTGiisrAL  sources  of  trotting  blood. 

his  chief  excellence  has  been  drawn;  nevertheless,  his  spirit  and  high 
qualities  of  nerve  and  resolution  were  found  in  all  the  family  of 
Diomed. 

His  dam  was  Amanda,  by  Grey  Diomed — a  Diomed  only  in  name — 
son  of  imported  Medley;  and  from  this  line  came  the  qualities  that 
give  Duroc  a  place  and  a  name  in  the  trotting  families  of  America. 
Medley  was  a  grey,  was  foaled  in  1776,  and  was  by  Gimcrack,  a  grey 
horse,  fourteen  hands  and  one-quarter  of  an  inch  high — about  the 
standard  height  of  the  race-horse  in  those  days — but  one  of  the  best 
horses  England  has  produced.  He  is  described  as  a  compact,  stout 
horse,  with  powerful  quarters,  and  hock  well  let  down — and  this  is  the 
point  or  fact  which  gives  Gimcrack  an  historical  importance  in  our 
American  trotting  horse — a  germ  here  planted  which  reappears  in  force 
and  controlling  character  in  the  Medleys,  the  Duroc-Messengers,  the 
Mambrino  Chiefs,  Royal  Georges,  Rhode  Island  and  Golddust. 

Amanda,  the  dam  of  Duroc,  was  a  chestnut,  and  one  of  the  best 
mares  of  her  day.  She  passed  a  career  of  distinction  on  the  tvirf, 
produced  only  this  one  foal,  and  died  the  year  following  from  an 
injury. 

From  Gimcrack  and  Medley  came  the  germ  of  the  qualities  that 
have  made  the  Duroc  blood  a  valuable  factor  in  the  trotting  families. 
They  were  stout  and  large  boned,  and  possessed  a  long  and  powerful 
thigh  and  gaskin — a  feature  in  which  Duroc  excelled,  and  which 
marks  his  descendants  in  a  pre-eminent  degree.  For  be  it  understood 
that  certain  features  or  peculiarities  once  engrafted,  from  whatever 
source  they  come,  often  grow  until  they  assume  proportions  that  con- 
stitute the  characteristic  badges  of  families  and  races. 

Such  are  the  distinctive  features  of  the  descendants  of  Duroc — a 
large  and  powerful  frame,  wide  across  the  hips,  a  long  and  powerful 
thigh,  and  gaskin  well  let  down  in  the  hock;  this  last  feature,  of 
necessity,  resulting  in  a  rather  crooked  hind  leg,  often  very  crooked. 
This  latter  peculiarity  seems  to  have  in  itself  some  peculiar  adapta- 
tion to  the  trotting  gait.  It  causes  the  animal  to  go  wide  apart  be- 
hind, gives  him  a  powerful  leverage  and  one  of  increased  length,  and 
is  always  attended  by  the  open,  loose,  even  straddling  gait — the  sure 
indicator  of  trotting  adaptation. 

American  Eclipse  was  a  son  of  Duroc.  A  correspondent  in  Colden's 
Magazine^  in  1833,  describing  Eclipse,  speaks  of  his  "  long  and 
strong  thigJi^  hock  loell  let  downy  This  magazine,  in  1834,  pub- 
lished a  memoir  of  Eclipse,  in  which  he  is  described  as  having 


<f^-^ 


'VJ  \ 


DUROC.  141 

Large  thigh  bones  of  unucunl  length,  the  well-covered  hocks  particularly  long 
and  let  down  upon  the  cannon-bone,  yet  of  that  form  which,  while  it  adds 
greatly  to  the  power  of  the  lever,  is  denominated  curby,  or  liable  to  throw  out 
curbs. 

The  principal  strains  of  the  Duroc  blood  to  be  found  in  this  coun- 
try at  this  time  are  found  in  the  members  of  the  American  Star 
family,  the  descendants  of  American  Eclipse,  the  descendants  of  Cock 
of  the  Rock,  a  son  of  Duroc,  out  of  Romp,  by  Messenger — a  small 
line — those  of  Phillips  in  the  family  of  Abdallah  Chief,  and  those  of 
old  Mambrino  Chief.  I  have  no  doubt  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief 
was  a  granddaughter  of  Duroc,  as  she  was  most  probably  a  daughter 
of  the  original  Messenger  Duroc,  who  was  by  Duroc  from  Vincenta, 
a  dauo-hter  of  Messeno-er.  The  descendants  of  Mambrino  Chief  have 
all  the  characteristics  of  the  Duroc  family;  they  have  the  big,  open 
gait  of  that  family;  they  have  the  outward  form  and  measurement  of 
that  family,  and  they  have  the  coarseness  of  quality  which  distin- 
guishes many  of  the  family,  and  the  defective  hocks  which  so  conspic- 
viously  adorn  the  descendants  of  Duroc. 

Touching  again  the  subject  of  measurement,  I  repeat  the  remark 
made  before,  and  yet,  perhaps,  often  to  be  repeated,  that  the  gait  or 
wav  of  going  is  governed  in  most  part  by  a  certain  conformation  of 
parts,  and  that  those  of  a  certain  gait  will  be  found  to  possess  a  cer- 
tain line  of  measurement  of  parts  in  common.  It  will  be  found  in 
this  respect  that,  all  of  the  Duroc  family  have  the  very  long  thigh  bone. 

This  matter  of  measurement,  about  which  some  people  have  much 
to  say,  yet  know  as  little  as  they  do  about  horses,  never  having  studied 
or  learned  anything  about  either,  has  its  value  here.  By  the  anatomy 
of  the  Duroc  family  are  they  distinguished,  even  to  remote  genera- 
tions, as  I  know  of  no  other  family  on  this  continent.  Duroc  had  a 
long  thigh,  and  this  thigh  he  transmitted  and  yet  transmits,  even  to 
his  remote  descendants,  unless  counteracted  by  other  bloods  alike 
strong  and  positive  in  their  character.  It  was  not  a  Diomed  charac- 
teristic, but  it  belonged  to  Duroc.  The  Diomed  family  have  not 
generally  a  thigh  over  23  inches  in  length,  but  the  Duroc  family  in  all 
its  remote  branches,  displays  one  of  24  inches  and  upward.  Since  I 
called  attention  to  this  particular,  one  learned  writer  asks  if  I  ever 
measured  the  thigh  of  Duroc.  I  need  only  refer  again  to  the  accurate 
and  careful  author  from  whom  I  quoted,  as  my  authority  on  this  point, 
and  surely  such  testimony  is  far  more  weighty  and  far  more  logical 
than  the  question  put  by  that  gentleman. 


.142  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

The  American  Star  family,  with  their  single  cross  of  Duroc,  and 
only  15  hands  2  inches  in  height,  have  a  thigh  24  inches  in  length — 
the  larger  ones,  Bolton  and  Socrates,  have  each  one  24^  inches;  while 
Smuggler,  a  remote  descendant  of  Duroc,  can  show  as  fine  hindquar- 
ter  action  as  any  horse  in  the  world,  and  trot  very  fast  on  a  24-inch 
thigh.  It  is  also  seen  that  the  length  of  the  thigh  bears  some  refer- 
ence to  the  number  of  Duroc  crosses  the  animal  carries.  Thus, 
Brownwood  by  Blackwood,  dam  by  McDonald's  Mambrino,  having 
two  Duroc  crosses,  has  a  thigh  24|-  inches;  the  present  Messenger 
Duroc,  with  his  five  crosses  of  Duroc,  has  one  25  inches,  and  his  son 
Ellwood,  with  his  ten  direct  crosses,  and  not  so  tall  on  the  rump  by 
two  inches,  has  one  also  25  inches;  Prospero  is  also  25  inches. 

This  feature  of  the  Duroc  cross  is  one  that  is  found  with  more 
certainty  than  any  other  anatomical  characteristic  that  I  know  of  any- 
where. In  the  Mambrino  Chief  family,  the  long  thigh  is  universal, 
unless  controlled  by  an  overpowering  concentration  of  Sir  Archy 
or  other  racing  blood,  as  in  a  few  instances.  Administrator  has  a 
thigh  24^  inches;  Mambrino  Patchen,  24^;  Idol,  24;  Mambrino 
Eclipse,  24;  Mambrino  Star,  24;  North  Star  Mambrino,  24;  Wood- 
ford Mambrino,  24;  Mambrino  Gift,  24;  Mambrino  Kate,  24|-;  Mam- 
brino Excelsior,  24|^;  Proctor,  24f ;  Blackwood  and  Swigert,  each 
24^.  These  two  latter  were  from  daughters  of  Mambrino  Chief; 
their  sire  Norman,  descended  from  Messenger  stock,  was  not  so 
long;  he  produced  Lula  and  May  Queen,  mares  15  hands  and  one 
inch,  and  each  had  a  thigh  22^  inches;  also  Sue  Letcher,  the  dam 
of  Neely's  Henry  Clay,  and  she  a  large  mare,  has  a  thigh  23  inches, 
and  all  these  show  that  the  long  thigh  came  from  the  Mambrino 
Chief  family.  Again,  Almont,  a  horse  15  hands  2  inches,  has  a 
thigh  24t,  and  Thorndale,  15  hands  2  inches,  has  one  24,  both  from 
Mambrino  Chief  dams;  and  their  sire  also  produced  Pacing  Abdallah, 
a  horse  15  hands  3-^  inches,  with  a  thigh  22|-,  and  Goldsmith  Maid,  15 
hands  1  inch,  and  22f — which  also  proves  the  same  point.  So  uni- 
formly does  this  measurement  prevail,  that  I  venture  the  suggestion 
that  if  the  dam  of  Middletown  was  by  American  Eclipse,  he  will  dis- 
play a  thigh  24  inches  in  length.  I  have  not  seen  the  horse  and  can 
not,  therefore,  attest  the  point.  But  the  measure  is  an  authority  on 
questions  of  pedigree  that  is  sometimes  more  authentic  than  certificates. 

We  often  see  the  statement  that  the  early  Messenger  trotters  did 
not  trot  so  wide  apart  behind  as  we  now  frequently  observe.  The 
Messenger  horse  was  a  horse  with  a  short  thigh,  and  the  short-thigh 


DUROC.  143 

trotters  all  trot  close:  Happy  Medium,  22^;  Hambletonian  Prince,  22; 
Cuyler,  15  hands  3  inches,  23^;  Lakeland  Abdallah,  15  hands  2  inches, 
22-5-;  Edward  Everett,  15  hands  l-J  inches,  22^;  Geo.  Wilkes,  15  hands, 
22;  Lucy,  15  hands  2  inches,  20;  G^n.  Knox,  15  hands  2  inches,  204^; 
Tattler,  15  hands  2  inches,  22:^;  Orient,  15  hands  2|-  inches,  23;  Hope- 
ful, 15  hands  1  inch,  21-2-;  Gov.  Sprague,  15  hands  2  inches,  23^.  The 
above  list  indicates  the  length  of  thigh  in  trotters  that  have  no  near 
Duroc  blood. 

When  the  Duroc  blood  came  in,  the  long  thigh  widened  out  the 
position  of  the  hind  legs,  and  this  wide  open  gait  is  so  attractive  to 
some  that  it  is  early  seized  ujDon  as  a  sure  indication  of  coming  great- 
ness in  the  trotter.  The  Star  family  all  show  the  wide  gait,  although 
they  possess  only  one  cross  of  Duroc  blood,  sandwiched  between  two 
and  perhaps  three  crosses  of  Messenger,  and  one  of  Henry,  another 
short-measure  horse.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  while 
the  form  and  peculiarities  which  give  type  to  the  Star  gait  came  from 
the  Duroc  cross  mainly,  that  gait  is  not  the  Duroc-Messenger  gait. 
The  Henry  cross  exerted  a  controlling  influence  over  the  conformation 
of  the  American  Star  family,  and  greatly  modified  the  Duroc  gait. 
But  the  gait  of  ]\Iambrino  chief  and  all  his  family,  including  the 
Almonts,  is  essentially  Duroc-Messenger,  and  is  one  that  is  recogniz- 
able anywhere.  It  is  not  the  gait  of  the  Mambrino  or  the  Mambrino 
Paymaster  family.  Mambrino  produced  Almack,  and  he,  in  turn,  the 
Champion  family;  and  the  gaits  of  all  these  bear  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  elastic,  propelling,  rear-reaching  gait  of  the  Abdallahs,  but 
totally  unlike  the  Duroc-Messenger  element.  This  cross  had  such 
long  thigh,  and  such  long  bone  from  stifl.e  to  the  whirlbone  joint,  and 
at  the  same  time  lacked  in  the  flank  room  or  distance  from  the  stifle 
to  the  hip,  that  the  motion  of  the  hind  limbs  involved  such  a  folding 
up  of  these  members,  with  so  little  room  for  it,  that  it  gave  the  horse 
a  sprawling  motion — spreading  out  at  the  stifle — and  a  wabbling  style 
about  the  hindquarters  wholly  unlike  the  even,  elastic  tread  of  the 
Abdallah  and  Champion  families.  Any  one  who  has  seen  a  three- 
year-old  Almont  and  one  of  the  same  age  by  the  present  Messenger 
Duroc  turned  loose  in  a  lot,  can  not  have  failed  to  recognize  the  great 
similarity,  I  may  say  identity,  of  their  gaits — they  lift  the  hocks  high 
and  are  showy  fellows.  The  Black  woods  train  in  the  same  school; 
and  this  gait  prevails  in  all  the  Mambrino  Chief  family. 

The  special  adaptation  of  this  Duroc  conformation  was  calculated 
to  make  it  specially  advantageous  to  cross  with  the  Messenger  family, 
1') 


144  ORIGINAL   SOUECES   OF  TROTTING   BLOOD. 

in  which  we  have  seen  the  tendency  was  toward  a  short  leverage,  and 
nothing  seems  to  detract  from  the  good  results  from  surh  a  cioss 
except  the  blood  defects  inherited  from  Diomed,  which  will  be  noticed 
/"urther  along. 

The  blood  of  Duroc,  while  it  was  tainted  and  was  infectious  in  its 
tendency,  and  was  certainly  injurious  if  intensified  by  close  and  con- 
tinueJ  in-breeding,  was  in  other  respects  one  of  great  valuel  When  it 
was  properly  supported  and  renovated  by  judicious  outcrosses,  it  was 
»:ot  necessarily  an  unsound  or  contaminating  agency,  and,  as  allied 
wdth  the  blood  of  Messenger,  it  was  an  imj^ortant  trotting  element. 
The  blood  of  imported  Messenger  was  crossed  with  that  of  several 
other  thoroughbreds  and  part-bred  animals,  notably  with  that  of  Trus- 
tee and  Expedition,  both  imported  horses,  and  with  other  sons  of 
Diomed.  That  of  Duroc  was  also  crossed  with  the  blood  of  other  thor- 
oughbred and  trotting  str-ains;  but  nowhere  was  there  a  union  of  any  of 
tliese  elements  that  produced  a  trotting  type  so  marked  and  lasting  in 
its  peculiarities  as  that  of  Duroc  and  Messenger.  I  have  before  stated 
clearly  that  I  do  not  believe  there  was  one  particle  of  trotting  ten- 
dency in  the  blood  of  any  of  the  Diomed  family;  and  I  am  confirmed 
in  this  opinion  by  the  observation  of  those  who  lived  in  the  day  of  his 
sons  and  early  descendants.  Certainly  I  can  not  credit  Duroc  with, 
any  such  tendency,  or  with  any  other  element  of  a  trotter  than  a  con- 
formation of  thigh  and  hindquarter  peculiar  to  himself,  and  which  had 
a  tendency  to  develop  and  increase  in  his  descendants,  especially 
when  in-bred,  that  greatly  adapted  them  to  the  trotting  gait;  but  I 
call  the  attention  of  those  who  deny  the  magical  trotting  qualities  of 
the  Messenger  blood  to  the  fact,  that  while  Duroc  was  thus  lacking  in 
trotting  tendencies  in  himself,  his  blood,  in  union  with  that  of  imported 
Messenger,  constituted  royal  trotting  Mood  of  the  highest  quality  we 
have  ever  seen  on  this  continent.  And  it  was  so  marked  and  noted 
in  its  own  type  and  character  as  to  stand  by  itself  and  give  form  and 
character  to  all  the  subsequent  elements  into  which  it  has  entered. 

Every  descendant  of  Seely's  American  Star,  of  Marabrino  Chief  and 
Almont  or  Thorndalej  attests  in  his  way  of  going,  his  wide  open  gait, 
and  the  peculiar  action  of  the  thigh  and  quarters,  the  presence  of  the 
Duroc-Messenger  union.  Messenger  Duroc  was  by  Duroc,  from  a 
daughter  of  Messenger,  and  was  a  thoroughbred.  The  first  American 
Star  was  similarly  bred,  according  to  all  traces  that  have  come  down 
to  us.  And  let  me  ask,  where  have  such  trotting  elements  been  found 
in  or  exhibited  by  any   other  two  thoroughbred  horses  this  country 


DUKOO.  14o 

has  ever  produced  ?  Both  of  these  were  trotters,  and  from  the 
last  one  and  a  'mare  by  Henry,  the  little  grandson  of  Diomed  and  out 
of  another  daughter  of  Messenger,  came  the  American  Star,  whose 
fame  as  a  trotter  and  the  sire  of  trotters  and  the  dams  of  trotters,  forms 
one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  our  trotting  history.  It  is  clear  this  last 
horse  received  nothing  but  his  defects  and  imperfections  from  Henry; 
his  greatness  as  a  trotter,  and  the  richness  of  the  trotting  elements  he 
cari-ied,  came  from  the  Duroc-Messenger  blood  of  which  he  was  com- 
posed. 

The  pure  and  rich  qualities  of  this  blood  are  'seen  in  Volunteer  and 
in  all  his  descendants.  Its  intensified  trotting  quality  is  seen  in  the 
American  Star  family,  but  tainted  and  greatly  corrupted  by  the 
infirmities  incident  to  in-breeding  the  Duroc  and  Henry  blood;  and  in 
the  Mambrino  Chief  family  its  royal  trotting  quality,  greatly  reinforced 
by  the  union  of  the  Messenger  strains  coming  through  Mambrino 
Paymaster,  found  their  richest  field  of  development  and  display, 
marred,  however,  by  the  fact  that  the  low-bred  ancestry  of  the  dam  of 
Mambrino  Chief  also  furnished  a  suitable  field  in  which  to  manifest 
and  develop  the  innate  and  deep-seated  taint  of  the  Duroc  blood.  It 
is  thus  that  the  high  and  the  low  are  compelled  to  run  in  the  same- 
channels,  but  the  wise  breeder  will  be  careful  which  element  he  will 
reinforce. 

The  great  and  serious  defect  of  Duroc,  and  the  great  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  a  free  use  of  his  blood  in  our  trotting  stock,  lay  in  his  innate 
tendency  to  curbs,  spavins  and  ringbones — coming  from  an  infirmity 
of  blood  inherited  from  Diomed.  The  Diomed  family  have  been 
generally  noted  for  infirm  legs.  Whyte,  the  historian  of  the  English 
turf,  says  that  the  racing  career  of  Diomed  ended  with  his  going  lame. 
His  grandson  Henry,  the  distinguished  competitor  of  American  Eclipse, 
finished  his  racing  history  in  the  same  way,  and  shaky  legs  have 
marked  his  descendants  in  special  degree  ever  since,  even  when  rein- 
forced by  the  pure  blood  of  old  Messenger. 

An  own  brother  of  the  great  Eclipse  was  ringboned,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  Daniel  T.  Cock,  son  of  the  former  owner  of  Duroc,  was, 
that  the  colts  of  that  horse  "  showed  a  decided  tendency  to  spavins, 
curbs  and  ringbones,"  and  for  that  reason  his  father  sold  him.  He 
and  his  son  Eclipse  are  referred  to  by  Mr.  Kissam,  a  well-informed 
gentleman  of  that  day,  thoroughly  identified  with  the  horse  interests 
of  the  vicinity  of  New  York  and  Long  Island,  in  the  following 
terms : 


146  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF   TROTTING   BLOOD. 

American  Eclipse  was  not  a  trotter,  nor  ever  got  a  trotter,  I  believe,  or 
scarcely  a  good  roadster.  With  all  his  fame,  he  was  deficient  in  his  hocks, 
and  I  think  was  fired  to  prevent  or  cure  a  curb.  Mr.  Colden,  the  most  enthu- 
siastic and  profuse  writer  on  the  horse  at  that  day,  stated  that  this  deficiency 
and  tendency  of  his  get  to  curb,  for  a  time  operated  greatly  against  him  iu 
the  stud.  Duroc,  his  sire,  was  spavined,  was  unpojiular  on  Long  Island  as  a 
road  horse,  and  got  few  that  were  good  roadsters.  It  has  been  claimed  by  some 
writers  that  his  get  were  inclined  to  ringbone. 

A  monthly,  which  is  the  especial  organ  of  the  Duroc  blood,  (my  own 
exposure  of  its  defective  tendencies  having  rendered  an  organ  neces- 
sary), admits  that — 

There  is  no  use  in  glossing  over  the  fact  that  this  tendency  to  unsoundness 
or  malformation  of  the  limbs  was  in  the  Diomed  blood,  and  whenever  we 
meet  with  a  strong  concentration  of  that  blood,  till  this  day  we  are  apt  to  see 
this  tendency  manifesting  itself. 

The  same  authority  in  the  interest  of  the  establishment,  where  ten 
close  and  straight  crosses  of  this  blood  are  presented  in  one  animal, 
however,  suggests  that  as  a  stallion  grows  older  he  is  less  likely  to 
transmit  these  defects  that  so  greatly  detract  from  the  value  of  his  stock 
while  young.  This  is  a  sort  of  philosophy  which  might  also  suggest 
that  the  valuable  qualities,  the  strong  trotting  instincts,  would  also 
grow  feeble  with  age,  if  the  animal  possessed  such  a  composition 
of  fibre  and  sinew  as  to  render  constant  training  and  use  imprac- 
ticable. 

These  defects  come  from  such  a  composition  of  blood — fibre,  sinew 
or  muscle,  or  wherever  it  may  reside — as  to  cause  inflammation  to 
result  from  friction  or  use,  such  as  creates  an  inability  in  the  system  to 
absorb  its  synovial  and  other  secretions,  the  production  of  which  is 
stimulated  and  increased  by  friction  and  use.  The  crowning  excel-  • 
lence  of  the  Messenger  blood  lay  in  its  ability  to  withstand  the  wear 
and  tear — the  friction  of  use,  and  absorb  all  the  secretions  without  the 
resulting  inflammations  which  in  other  less  healthy  systems  were  pro- 
ductive of  swellings  and  unsound  accretions — lasting  and  injurious 
disabilities.  His  blood  reveled  not  in  idleness — age  added  nothing 
to  its  purity,  and  brought  no  trace  of  infirmity.  But  the  blood  of 
Diomed  was  of  an  opposite  character — disuse  and  inaction  suited  it 
best. 

But  in  the  face  of  this  great  and  formidable  obstacle  the  blood  of 
Duroc  is  an  important  element  in  our  Amei'ican  trotter.  It  must  be 
used  with  intelligence  and  a  due  regard  to  its  baneful  influence  if 
bred  closely;  and  such  families  must  be  avoided  as  show  a  tendency 


ST.    LAWRENCE.  147 

toward  its  more  infirm  manifestations.  Many  display  only  its  excel- 
lences— ^these  I  commend  in  the  highest  degree;  but  I  cannot  forbear 
to  warn  against  crossing  in  those  families  where  the  tendency  toward 
defects  is  its  chief  manifestation. 

I  may  add,  that  from  daughters  or  granddaughters  of  Messenger, 
Duroc  produced  Garland  the  dam  of  Post  Boy,  Cock  of  the  Rock, 
Messenger  Duroc,  the  first  American  Star — as  is  most  probable, 
American  Eclij^se,  Blucher,  Wellington,  Shakespeare,  besides  many 
others  that  enter  into  the  pedigree  of  our  trotting  families. 

I  may  also  add,  that  the  Duroc- Messenger  blood  possessed  this 
other  valuable  quality  of  acting  in  harmony  with  almost  any  other 
trotting  elements.  It  had  no  alloy  or  base  metal  that  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  readiest  and  most  harmonious  fusion  with  the  best  bloods  of 
our  trotting  families.  The  Bellfounder  in  union  vn.ih  the  Messenger 
blood  was  not  so  certain  an  element.  While  it  has  shown  its  best 
results  on  the  dam's  side  of  the  trotter,  in  its  earliest  stages  it  has 
operated  best  in  connection  with  the  Duroc  blood  when  the  latter  was 
in  the  composition  of  the  dam.  As  the  interbreeding  of  these  families 
advances,  these  crosses  will  become  so  remote  in  their  unions  that  the 
difference  in  this  respect  will  diminish,  but,  as  before,  the  preference 
for  the  blood  of  the  Messenger  on  the  side  of  the  sire  will  still  be 
manifest,  and  the  more  remote  and  perfectly  interwoven  the  Duroc 
element  is  found,  will  it  also  be  seen  to  exhibit  its  greatest  excellences. 
Moreover,  like  many  other  of  our  primitive  sources  of  trotting  excel- 
lence, its  best  qualities  will  continue  to  appear  further  along  as  we 
advance  in  crossing  it  with  our  roadster  elements;  when  its  original 
Diomed  or  Arab  traits  are  all  eliminated,  and  nothing  but  trotting 
quality  is  left,  it  will  be  found  to  show  its  most  valuable  character  as  a 
factor  in  the  breeding  of  trotters.  Such  has  been  the  case  with  the 
blood  of  Messenger  and  of  Bellfounder — and  a  similar  law  prevails  in 
relation  to  many  others. 


ST.  LAWRENCE. 

This  was  a  horse  of  great  merit,  and  a  considerable  share  of  good 
blood,  but  it  is  impossible  at  this  day  to  determine  exactly  what  he 
was  in  matter  of  blood  composition.  He  was  bred  in  Canada — most 
likely  in  that  part  near  Montreal,  but  this  is  by  no  means  certain.  He 
was  brought  from   Montreal,   or  in  the   vicinity  thereof,  by  Mr.  W. 


148  ORIGINAL   S0URCE3   OF   TROTTING    BLOOD. 

Prendergast,  and  sold  to  Joseph  Hall,  of  Rochester,  New  York.  He 
was  foaled  about  1841,  and  was  seven  years  old  when  he  came  to  the 
State  of  New  York.  He  became  somewhat  distinguished  on  the  trot- 
ting turf,  and  was  purchased  by  Mr.  D.  A.  January,  of  St.  Loxiis, 
Missouri,  and  was  kept  there  from  1853  until  1857,  when  he  was  re- 
sold and  removed  to  Rochester,  and  from  thence  to  Kalamazoo,  Mich- 
igan, where  he  died  in  1858. 

He  was  a  bay  horse,  about  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  high,  and  left 
numerous  descendants  for  the  short  time  he  was  in  the  States,  his 
evident  good  blood  and  superior  ability  as  a  trotter  making  him  very 
popular.  He  stood  for  two  seasons  at  St.  Louis  at  $200 — at  that  time 
the  largest  price  asked  for  the  services  of  any  trotting  stallion  in  the 
United  States. 

All  of  his  descendants  are  marked  by  a  peculiarity  of  gait  that  is 
precisely  like  that  of  the  original  St.  Lawrence.  They  gently  sway 
their  hindquarters  from  side  to  side  as  they  advance  successively  each 
hind  foot.  They  do  not  lift  the  hock  high,  but  trail  the  hind  foot  out 
far  behind  them,  having  a  very  long  reach  from  hip  to  hock,  and  a 
most  superb  thigh  and  gaskin — one  of  the  largest  and  strongest  ever 
seen  on  a  trotter.  They  have  a  hock  that  is  perfection  in  itself.  No 
trotter  surpasses  them  in  this  part  of  their  conformation.  Their  front 
conformation  is  as  perfect  as  that  behind.  They  lift  the  feet  fairly, 
bend  the  knees  slightly,  and  trot  with  a  rolling  but  far-reaching,  and 
never  with  a  hard-pounding  or  violent  action,  that  is  indicative  of 
great  power  and  ease.  They  trot  so  evenly  front  and  rear,  and  with 
so  much  power,  that,  whether  coming  toward  you  or  going  from  you, 
they  seem  like  the  even  and  steady  rolling  of  a  great  wheel ;  their 
force  and  momentum  is  great  beyond  description.  It  is  a  gait  with 
which  I  am  quite  familiar,  having  a  first-class  opportunity  of  studying 
it  in  my  own  stallion.  Argonaut,  whose  dam  was  by  Toronto,  a  son  of 
St.  Lawrence.  A  gentleman  who  was  a  great  admirer  of  St.  Law- 
rence, and  who  is  a  horseman  of  very  accurate  discernment,  says  that 
he  sees  the  St.  Lawrence  gait  in  perfection  in  Argonaut.  I  may  here 
not  inappropriately  say  that,  without  any  regular  or  professional 
training,  he  is  a  stallion  that  could  at  five  years  of  age  trot  a  mile 
in  2:30. 

The  form  and  gait  of  the  family  have  been  everywhere  highly 
esteemed. 

The  editor  of  the  Trotting  Begister^  in  his  first  volume,  says  of  old 
St.  Lawi'ence: 


ST.    LAWRENCE.  149 

Tliis  was  doubtless  the  best  Canadian  ever  brought  to  the  States.  He  was  a 
trotter  and  left  some  trotters ;  but  nearly  or  perhaps  quite  all  of  these  that 
afterward  disting-uished  themselves  on  the  trotting  course  had  some  infusion 
of  Messenger  blood  through  their  dams.  The  blood  of  the  original  horse  of 
this  name  was  unknown,  but  whatever  it  was  it  pushed  him  along  and  kept 
him  going  at  a  pace  and  for  a  distance  that  his  conformation  did  not  seem  to 
warrant.  Some  of  the  trotters  of  the  present  day  possess  a  moiety  of  his  blood, 
but  he  failed  to  establish  a  family  that  might  be  designated  as  trotters. 

I  may  say  that  no  horse  coming'  to  this  country  as  recently  as  1848 
"wotilcl  be  likely  to  produce  many  trotters  that  did  not  in  some  way  or 
other  have  lines  of  the  blood  of  Messenger  in  the  pedigree  of  their 
dams;  nor  would  any  horse,  however  great  his  merit,  be  likely  in  our 
day  to  establish  a  separate  family,  w^holly  independent  of  other  lines 
of  trotting:  blood. 

The  horse  that  comes  before  the  public  at  this  time  having  a  con- 
formation in  any  way  more  suited  to  the  trotting  gait,  and  adapted  in 
any  degree  as  an  outcross  to  improve  the  Messenger  family  and  add 
to  their  celebrity,  certainly  possesses  great  value.  This  was  done  by 
both  Bellfounder  and  Duroc,  and  the  St.  Lawrence  conformation  and 
v/ay  of  going  is  one  better  calculated  to  improve  the  Hambletonian  and 
Duroc-Messenger  gaits,  than  any  with  which  I  am  ac({uainted.  Be- 
sides, the  great  ability  of  that  horse  as  a  trotter  showed  that  it  was  no 
inferior  element  to  be  introduced  into  the  best  of  trotting  families. 
H.  W.  Herbert  regarded  him  as  a  Canadian,  and  gives  his  picture  in 
his  work,  as  a  sample  of  the  Canadian  horse  in  his  highest  state  of  per- 
fection. It  is  not  improbable  that  he  had  some  elements  of  the  orig- 
inal Andalusian  blood,  from  which  the  pure  Canadian  horse  sprang. 
This  was  the  origin  of  that  stock,  and  many  representatives  of  the 
blood  have  shown  strong  traces  of  the  original  Barb  elements,  from 
which  the  Andalusian  families  descended.  The  rigors  of  a  severe 
climate  and  hard  usage  have  left  their  impress  on  the  stock,  but  they 
yet  retain  many  elements  that  point  to  their  original  superiority,  which 
has  not  entirely  been  effaced.  Mr.  Herbert  in  this  connection  makes 
an  observation  worth  repeating.     Of  the  Canadian,  he  says: 

He  is  said,  although  small  himself  in  stature,  to  have  the  unusual  quality  of 
breeding  up  in  size,  with  larger  and  loftier  mares  than  himself,  and  to  give 
the  foals  his  own  vigor,  pluck  and  iron  constitution,  with  the  frame  and  gen- 
eral aspect  of  their  dams.  This,  by  the  way,  appears  to  be  a  characteristic  of 
the  Barb  blood  above  all  others,  and  is  a  strong  corroboration  of  the  legend 
which  attributes  to  him  an  early  Andalusian  strain. 

St.  Lawrence  made  his  first  record  at  Montreal,  in  1848,  in-  2:  34^, 


150      ORIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  TROTTING  BLOOD. 

on  the  ice.  He  trotted  and  won,  against  the  stallion  Rhode  Island,  a 
race  of  six  heats.  He  also  trotted  and  won  a  race  against  Cardinal, 
of  two  heats  for  three  miles  each,  winning  each  heat — record  8:07^, 
to  wagons.  The  calendar  shows  that  he  trotted  something  like  forty 
heats  in  races  which  he  won  during  the  period  he  was  on  the  turf. 
This  does  not  include  the  heats  in  races  which  he  lost- — if  there  were 
any  such.  He  has  one  son  of  the  same  name  that  has  a  record  of 
2:32,  The  grandam  of  Mambrino  Gift  was  by  one  of  his  sons,  and 
it  is  generally  regarded  that  St.  Lawrence  mares — one  of  his  daugh- 
ters or  those  of  his  blood — are  of  the  best  of  brood  mares.  They 
seem  to  produce  trotters  with  a  degree  of  certainty  that  is  truly 
worthy  of  consideration. 

The  fact  has  become  so  clear  that  in  some  parts  of  our  country 
the  Messenger  blood  has  been  in-bred  too  closely,  and  the  need  of  a 
suitable  outcross  of  high  trotting  quality  having  become  ajsparent  in 
many  instances,  such  a  blood  as  that  of  St.  Lawrence  affords  for  all 
such,  one  of  the  most  valuable  strains  with  which  to  interbreed.  Many 
very  valuable  mares  now  exist,  that  are  so  closely  and  strongly  in-bred 
in  the  Messenger  blood,  that  their  value  as  breeding  stock  mainly 
depends  on  the  obtaining  of  a  suitable  outcross  to  invigorate  the  bloody 
and  maintain  the  trotting  excellence  for  which  it  has  been  noted. 
For  all  such,  the  male  descendants  of  St.  La%vrence  will  afford  the 
desired  cross,  and  the  union  will  in  all  probability  result,  as  did  that  of 
Bellfounder  in  the  Hambletonian,  in  the  further  advancement  of  the 
American  trotter. 

OTHER    SOURCES    OF   TROTTIXG    BLOOD. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  Bashaw  family,  from  v>'hence  the  large 
and  respectable  family  of  Clays  have  descended,  was  an  original  source 
of  trotting  blood.  Their  claims  to  such  distinction  will  be  considered 
in  the  chapter  on  Bashaws  and  Clays. 

The  now  very  large  and  popular  family  descended  from  Pilot,  the 
Canadian  pacer,  will  also  receive  full  and  separate  consideration  in 
the  chapter  devoted  to  them  and  the  other  Canadians  worthy  of  notice, 
in  connection  with  our  roadster  families. 

The  Morgan  family,  including  all  descendants  in  the  male  line  of 
Justin  Morgan,  however  they  may  have  descended,  on  the  dam's  side, 
will  also  receive  separate  consideration  in  a  subsec^uent  chapter. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

HAMBLETONIAN. 

By  right  of  acknowledged  pre-eminence,  Hambletonian  claims  our 
consideration  as  the  first  on  the  list  of  great  stallions.  He  was  foaled 
on  the  5th  of  May,  1849,  at  Sugar  Loaf,  Orange  county,  New  York, 
and  is  now  [March  1st,  1876]  nearing  the  day  when  he  shall  have 
attained  the  full  age  of  twenty-seven  years.  With  proper  care  and 
treatment  he  may  survive  several  years  longer,  but  his  fame,  and  the 
renown  of  his  family,  will  live  in  the  breeding  annals  of  this  country 
for  many  generations  yet  to  come.  Having  been  employed  in  service 
to  an  extent  greater,  perhaps,  than  any  stallion  ever  produced,  his 
back  has  become  much  swayed,  and  this  has  worked  a  change  in  his 
form,  constituting  a  wide  departure  from  the  magnificent  original. 
For  some  months  past  he  has  also  suffered  from  the  effects  of  epizootic 
catarrh,  which  has  operated  much  to  depress  the  otherwise  vigorous 
health  of  this  most  remarkable  animal.  But  in  the  face  of  all  the 
assaults  of  age,  and  these  infirmities,  incident  to  long  service,  and  the 
inclemency  of  the  season,  he  stands  to-day  a  splendid  exhibition  of 
equine  perfection.  His  coat  is,  ordinarily,  of  the  brightest  bay,  his 
legs  black,  the  black  extending  above  the  knees  and  hocks,  with  white 
socks  behind  (in  size  precisely  alike),  and  a  small,  white  star  in  his 
forehead.  His  feet  are  neither  small  nor  large,  and  as  near  the  right 
model  as  I  have  seen  anywhere.  His  pasterns  not  long  or  short,  and 
from  the  sole  of  his  foot  upward  he  is  as  near  perfection  as  I  have 
ever  known.  His  ankles  and  knees  are  large,  and  his  cannon-bones 
flat,  clean  and  hard  to  the  touch,  fine  in  texture  and  smooth  on  the 
surface.  His  hock  is  the  firmest  and  the  cleanest  I  ever  grasped,  and 
the  large  tendon,  extending  above,  is  very  large  and  firm.  I  have  not 
seen  a  horse,  of  any  age,  whose  limbs  and  joints  showed  a  finer 
texture  or  quality — more  total  absence  of  that  gummy  coarseness  of 
cellular  tissue  which  marks  some  even  of  the  noted  stallions  of  the 
day — his  joints  showing  that  perfect  absorption  of  their  synovial  fluids, 

(151) 


152  nAMBLETONIAN. 

without  which  such  an  advanced  age  can  not  be  obtained  without 
great  infirmity  of  limbs,  and  the  development  of  marks  and  blemishes 
indicative  of  the  imperfections  so  common  in  horses  everywhere. 
There  has  been  no  firing  nor  blistering,  and  no  resort  to  anything  to 
stimulate  the  absorption  of  synovial  fluids,  his  own  superior  quality  of 
bone,  tendon,  sinew,  muscle,  fibre  and  nerve,  having  been  sufficient  to 
exclude  all  approach  of  disease  or  tendency  toward  infirmity.  He 
constitutes  the  best  illustration  I  have  ever  seen  of  the  highly-bred 
and  finely-textured  horse,  as  contrasted  with  the  coarse-grained,  soft, 
low-bred,  beefy-limbed  and  gummy-jointed  plug.  His  own  perfection 
will  be  seen  to  better  advantage,  and  more  clearly  illustrated,  when 
we  come  to  consider  the  qualities,  high  and  low,  of  other  stallions, 
even  though  some  of  them  be  the  sons  of  this  royal  sire. 

Hambletonian  has  a  knee  Id^  inches  in  circumference,  a  hock  17-^ 
inches;  is  15  inches  around  the  smallest  part  of  the  limb  and  back 
tendon  above  the  hock.  From  the  centre  of  the  hip-joint  to  the  point 
of  the  hock  he  is  41  inches;  from  point  of  stifle  to  point  of  hock  the 
length  of  his  thigh  is  24  inches;  from  the  point  of  hock  to  centre  of 
ankle-joint  he  is  16  inches;  from  centre  of  foreankle  to  centre  of  knee, 
11^  inches;  from  centre  of  knee  to  top  of  forearm  joint,  20-^  inches. 
His  neck,  from  the  notch  in  the  vertebra  on  his  withers  to  the  extreme 
poll,  is  32  inches,  and  on  the  underside  his  Avindpipe  is  only  16  inches, 
giving  him  the  appearance  of  a  horse  with  a  fine  crest,  but  a  very 
short  neck.  His  shoulders  extend  forward  at  the  point,  very  far  and 
very  strong  and  prominent,  giving  him  a  square,  massive  appearance, 
and  one  of  great  power.  From  hip  to  hip  he  is  24  inches,  and  in  his 
back  of  medium  length,  round  barrel,  and  massive,  powerful  hind- 
quarters, are  found  the  comj^letion  of  the  powerful  outline  I  have 
endeavored  to  portray.  His  pictures  are  all  utterly  inadequate  to 
convey  any  correct  idea  of  the  horse.  I  present  to  my  readers  a  cut, 
or  outline,  pre])ared  by  myself  and  under  my  own  supervision,  which 
I  submit  as  the  only  correct  outline  of  the  form  of  Hambletonian  that 
has  ever  appeared.  This  I  know  to  be  correct  in  outline,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  exact  scale  represented  in  the  animal  himself.  The  triangle 
from  the  centre  of  hip  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  and  thence  to  the  stifle 
and  back  to  the  hip,  represented  by  the  lines  J£^  G,  F^  respectively, 
is  as  follows:  H^  19;  ^,  30;  F^  21.  The  large  muscle  of  the  quar- 
ters comes  down  to  within  nine  inches  of  the  hock,  and  between  the 
legs  behind  it  is  simply  immense.  The  neck  is  not  thick  nor  heavy, 
the  shoulders,  or  withers,  flat  and  low,  being  higher  on  the  rump  than 


DESCIUPTION   OF   IIAMBLETONIAN. 


153 


on  the  withers;  but  the  most  notable  feature  of  the  latter  is  the  com- 
pact mass,  or  fabric,  of  bone,  tendon  and  muscle,  so  closely  knit 
together  as  to  appear  as  one,  and  undistinguishable  one  from  the 
other.  His  shoulder-blades  seem  to  rise  to  the  top  of  the  withers,  but 
so  closely  and  firmly  is  the  whole  mass  united  as  to  render  it  difficult 
to  define  the  line  or  border  of  each,  giving  him  great  compactness 
and  strength  in  that  part.  His  tail  sets  on  very  high,  and  the  whirl- 
l)one,  so-called,  and  consequently  the  buttock,  or  posterior,  stands 
liigh  and  projects  backward  very  prominently.  I  shall  refer  to  other 
points,  in  this  description,  during  the  progress  of  this  chapter. 

[The  above  was  written  and  published  before  the  death  of  Hamble- 
touian,  which  occurred  on  the  27th  of  March,  1876.  I  prefer  repeating 
it  in  this  place  without  change.] 

Hambletonian  was  bred  by  Jonas  Seely,  and  when  a  foal  was  sold, 
-with  his  dam,  for  the  sum  of  |125,  to  William  M.  Rysdyk,  of  Orange 
<30unty.  New  York;  and,  having  survived  his  owner,  he  was  held,  by 
•direction  of  the  will  of  Mr.  Rysdyk,  in  possession  of  the  fam- 
ily and  the  executors  until  his  death.  He  was  by  Abdallah,  and 
Abdallah  was  by  Mambrino,  son  of  Messenger;  the  dam  of  Abdallah 


]  .■)4  HAMBLETONIAl^. 

being  the  mare  Amazonia,  of  very  high  breeding  and  well-developed 
trotting  qualities,  and  one  that  gave  to  her  son  much  of  the  form  and 
quality  for  which  he  and  many  of  his  descendants  are  so  much  distin- 
guished. The  maternal  ancestry  of  Hambletonian  were  bred  and 
owned  by  the  Seely  family  for  three  generations  prior  to  his  birth. 
His  dam  was  by  imported  Bellfounder;  his  2d  dam  by  Hambletonian, 
son  of  imported  Messenger;  and  his  3d  dam,  called  Silvertail,  has- 
been  generally  reported  to  have  been  by  imported  Messenger,  although 
I  have  information,  entitled  to  credit,  that  she  was  by  a  son  of  imported 
Messenger,  owned  by  a  member  of  the  Seely  family,  and,  I  believe,  a. 
brother  of  Mr.  Jonas  Seely,  Sr.,  who  bred  Silvertail. 

As  all  information  with  regard  to  these  animals,  now  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  fame  of  Hambletonian,  is  eagerly  sought  by  all 
interested  readers,  I  herewith  insert  part  of  two  letters  already  given 
to  the  public;  the  first  addressed  to  myself  by  Dr.  Townsend  Seely^ 
of  Kendall  county,  Illinois,  a  man  above  eighty  years  of  age,  of  most 
agreeable  address,  an  Elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  in  the  community  in  which  he  lived  for  over  thirty 
years  past.     At  my  request  he  penned,  in  his  own  way,  the  following: 

About  the  year  1800,  my  father  traded  with  George  Deanmand,  and  got  a 
mare  called  Jin  Black,  with  large,  bald  face  and  two  white  feet.  She  was 
large,  with  strong,  clean  limbs.  Wliy  father  came  to  get  her  was,  because  she 
was  so  spirited  and  balky  that  Deanmand  could  not  make  her  work ;  but  father 
bi-oke  her  to  be  kind  in  every  way,  but  had  to  get  an  extra  strong  set  of  iron 
traces  (the  only  ones  used  at  that  time)  to  prevent  her  breaking  them  every 
day,  and  then  had  no  trouble  with  her.  I  have  ridden  her  many  a  day  before 
oxen,  to  plow  among  stumps  and  stones.  From  the  character  of  Jin  you  may- 
infer  that  Silvertail  had  a  good  start  on  the  dam's  side.  She  was  sired  by 
Messenger,  and  when  foaled  was  a  light  grey — the  only  grey  colt  I  ever  saw 
foaled.  When  she  shed  her  coat  she  was  the  exact  color  and  marks  of  her 
dam,  with  the  exception  of  a  tuft  of  hair  at  the  root  of  her  tail,  which  was 
white — hence  her  name.  One  Eye  was  a  foal  of  Silvertail.  She  was  a  bright 
bay,  with  a  ewe  neck,  and  carried  her  head  very  high ;  was  a  splendid  mare, 
and  at  twenty  years  old  would  move  off  with  all  the  vigor  of  youth.  I  think 
her  sire  was  Hambletonian,  but  the  record  will  inform  you.  I  may  say  that 
the  whole  breed  of  horses  were  noted  for  large,  clean  limbs  and  joints,  and  I 
am  persuaded  that  none  of  them  ever  had  spavin  or  windgalls.  Many  of  the 
colts  of  the  al)ove-named  mares  went  to  New  York,  for  extra  prices,  for  coach 
and  buggy  horses ;  one  called  Crabstick — so  called  because  he  could  not  be 
broken  to  ride,  for  all  my  brothers  owned  him  at  different  times  (six  of  them), 
but  none  of  them  could  ride  him  safely.  He  was  very  kind  in  harness,  and  so 
fast  that  his  owner  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  to  get  a  mate  for  him  that 
could  trot  with  him,  but  did  not  succeed,  as  I  have  been  informed. 


SILVEllTAIL   AND   ONE   EYE.  155 

I  do  not  know  tliat  I  can  give  you  any  more  information  that  -would  interest 
you  in  relation  to  the  origin  of  the  Hambletonian  stock.  I  never  saw  old 
Messenger,  although  I  heard  much  of  him  from  those  who  knew  him  well. 

Respectfully  yours,  T.  Seely. 

I  also  insert  a  part  of  a  letter,  at  one  time  written  by  the  well- 
known  compiler  of  the  Trotting  Register,  as  follows: 

In  the  summer  of  1807,  Mr.  John  Seely,  of  Sugar  Loaf,  Orange  county,  was 
down  at  New  York  with  a  drove  of  cattle.  He  was  riding  an  eight-year-old 
brown  mare,  by  old  Messenger.  This  mare  had  white  hairs  in  her  tail,  hence 
he  called  her  Silvertail.  His  son  Jonas,  a  lad  nine  or  ten  years  old,  was  along 
helping  to  drive  the  cattle  and  see  the  city.  Having  disposed  of  his  drove,  he 
was  exceedingly  anxious  to  get  home,  but  did  not  like  to  leave  the  lad ;  so  he 
took  him  up  behind  him  on  old  Silvertail,  and  galloped  home  that  day — sev- 
enty-five miles.  The  date  of  the  circumstance  was  fixed  in  the  boy's  mind  by 
a  remarkable  eclipse  of  the  sun  that  day.  The  old  mare  frequently  carried 
Mr.  Seely  alone  to  Albany— one  hundred  miles— in  a  day.  Her  trotting  action 
was  not  much  developed,  but  she  would  gallop  all  day  long.  Mr.  Seely  bred 
this  mare  to  Hambletonian,  the  in-bred  son  of  old  Messenger,  and  the  produce 
was  a  brown  filly,  rather  hard  to  manage  when  they  came  to  break  her;  and 
one  day,  in  a  fight  to  make  her  do  as  they  wanted,  she  got  one  eye  knocked 
out — hence  they  called  her  One  Eye. 

This  mare,  One  Eye,  was  bred  to  imported  Bellfounder,  and  the  produce 
was  a  handsome  dark  bay  mare  that  showed  a  fine  step  as  a  trotter ;  and  as 
that  way  of  going  was  then  becoming  fashionable,  she  was  sold  to  New  York 
for  a  good  price.  She  eventually  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Charles  Kent, 
and  was  queen  of  the  road  for  a  number  of  years. 

Meantime,  Mr.  Seely,  Sr.,  had  died,  and  the  present  Mr.  Seely— the  lad  of 
1807— succeeded  to  the  name  and  the  estate.  On  a  certain  occasion  he  saw  the 
Charles  Kent  mare,  as  she  was  then  called.  She  had  been  hardly  used— one 
hip  knocked  down,  and  dilapidated  generally.  Knowing  the  wonderful 
merit  of  the  family,  he  bought  her  again  for  a  trifle,  and  took  her  home  to 
breed  from.  She  produced  several  foals.  In  1849  she  brought  a  nice  bay 
colt,  by  old  Abdallah,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  sold  the  old  mare,  with 
this  colt  at  her  foot,  to  Wm.  M.  Eysdyk,  for  |125,  and  that  colt  is  Rysdyk's 
Hambletonian. 

These  facts  I  had  from  the  lips  of  Mr.  Jonas  Seely  himself,  than  whom 
there  is  no  more  reliable  gentleman  in  the  great  State  in  which  he  lives. 

As  it  has  been  a  matter  of  great  controversy,  on  which  much  has 
been  spoken  and  written,  concerning  the  relative  merit  of  the  two  great 
sires  from  which  Hambletonian  came — Abdallah  and  Bellfounder — I 
will,  of  course,  be  expected  to  give  the  question  some  consideration. 
I  give  it  as  my  opinion,  in  advance,  that  it  is  a  matter  concerning 
which  much  error  has  been  taught,  and  much  been  said,  without  any 
adequate  understanding  of  the  subject. 


156  IIAMBLETONIAN. 

Abdallah,  the  sire  of  Hambletonian,  was  a  horse  ot  very  remarkable 
and  positive  character.  He  was  bred  by  John  Tredwell,  on  Long- 
Island,  and  was  foaled  in  the  year  1823  according  to  some  accounts,  and 
according  to  others  in  the  year  1835  or  1826.  He  died  in  November,. 
1854,  from  neglect  and  ill-treatment,  but  for  which  cause  he  would 
probably  have  survived  several  years  longer.  It  is  asserted  by  some 
who  knew  him  well,  that  he  died  in  1852,  but  there  is  one  thing  that 
is  noticeable  in  the  history  of  Abdallah  and  his  dam — no  one  is  alile 
to  give  any  definite  information  as  to  dates  or  origin  or  history,  such 
as  we  usually  receive  in  regard  to  animals  that  have  been  regarded  as 
valuable  in  their  day  and  generation. 

This  is  readily  accounted  for  in  this  case  from  the  fact  that  Abdal- 
lah was  not  highly  esteemed  in  his  day  outside  of  a  small  number  of 
persons.  He  had,  in  himself,  so  much  that  was  positively  forbidding 
that  he  was  patronized  not  so  much  for  what  he  was  as  for  what  they 
hoped  to  derive  from  him — and  finally,  his  chief  merit  in  the  estima- 
tion of  all  persons,  except  perhaps  his  owners,  was  founded  in  the 
high  qualities  of  his  produce.  I  say,  except  his  owners,  and  there  is 
much  in  the  history  of  the  late  years  of  the  horse  and  the  ill-treatment 
he  received  to  show  that  even  his  owners  esteemed  him  more  hateful 
than  lovely.  But  for  this  fact,  his  value  to  the  world  in  his  last  years 
might  have  been  doubled. 

Mr.  Tredwell,  the  breeder  of  Abdallah,  sold  him  in  April,  1830, 
to  Isaac  Snediker,  and  then  gave  a  letter  or  statement,  among  other 
things  saying  that  he  was  then  seven  years  old,  and  that  at  three  years 
of  age  he  received  eight  mares,  and  did  no  service  at  four. 

It  is  elsewhere  stated  that  in  1828  and  1829,  he  stood  at  the  place 
of  his  owner  on  Long  Island;  in  1830,  at  Flatbush  and  Gravesend  ; 
in  1831,  two  miles  from  Jamaica,  Long  Island;  and  that  he  continued 
on  Lonn;  Island  and  in  New  Jersey  until  the  fall  of  1839,  when  he  was 
sold  to  John  W.  Hunt,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  for  $1,300;  that  he 
was  sent  there  on  foot  in  the  spring  of  18-40,  arriving  in  poor  condition, 
and  after  making  one  season  there,  and  not  meeting  with  much  favor 
among  the  Kentucky  breeders,  he  was  resold  to  parties  in  New  York, 
returned  thither  and  passed  several  years  on  Long  Island  and  in  Orange 
county. 

While  at  Chester,  Orange  county,  he  was  wintered  by  standing  out 
in  the  bleak  winds,  exposed  to  the  pelting  storms  of  a  Northern 
winter,  by  the  side  of  a  haystack  within  sight  of  the  place  where  his 
renowned  son  Hambletonian  spent  his  days  and  died  full  of  years  and 


ABDALLAH.  157 

crowned  with  honors.  He  was  not  popular  in  Orange  county.  His 
uncouth  and  rough  appearance  grew  more  homely  and  unattractive 
with  age,  and  his  ferocious  temper  caused  him  to  be  still  more  forbid- 
ding. It  is  evident  that  the  kind  of  care  he  received  greatly  added 
to  his  lack  of  beauty,  and  if  he  secured  any  patronage  it  was  from 
the  high  estimate  they  j^laced  on  his  natural  trotting  power,  and  the 
blood  of  Messenger  which  he  represented  in  so  direct  a  line,  coupled 
with  the  well  known  excellence  of  his  stock. 

After  running  entirely  out  of  ]5opular  esteem  in  Orange  county,  he 
returned  in  1849  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  remained  at  Old 
Bull's  Head,  but  did  nothing.  In  1850  he  received  sixteen  mares, 
and  in  1851  he  was  in  Suifolk  county  on  Long  Island,  but  from  thence- 
forth he  seemed  to  be  without  friends  and  patronage.  He  had  already 
survived  his  own  usefulness  and  outlived  popular  esteem.  He  was 
taken  to  a  remote  place  on  the  island  and  finally  given  to  a  farmer  on 
condition  that  he  should  deal  kindly  with  him  for  the  remainder  of  his 
days.  This  farmer,  concurring  in  the  general  estimate  that  all  others 
seemed  to  have  reached  concerning  the  old  horse,  then  above  thirty 
years  of  age,  sold  the  king  of  trotting  stallions  to  a  fisherman  for 
thirty-five  dollars  !  Such  is  greatness !  The  fisherman,  concluding  he 
was  about  old  enough  to  lay  aside  regal  honors  and  earn  his  living 
like  other  people  and  horses,  hitched  him  to  his  wagon,  but  the  aged 
monarch,  not  willing  to  yield  to  the  degradation,  kicked  the  wagon  to 
pieces,  preferring  to  die  of  starvation  rather  than  to  submit  to  such 
menial  servitude  in  the  davs  of  his  decline.     The  frio-htened  fisherman, 

«/  0  7 

not  able  to  cope  wath  such  an  imperial  temper,  left  him  to  his  fate,  and 
as  the  solitary  monarch  of  the  sands  he  surveyed,  he  died  of  absolute 
starvation. 

The  sire  of  Abdallah  was  Mambrino,  the  rough  thoroughbred  son  of 
imported  Messenger — if  he  was  strictly  thoroughbred.  His  dam  was 
the  celebrated  mare  Amazonia,  the  most  noted  trotting  or  road  mare 
of  hei"  day;  bvit  of  her  age  or  the  year  of  her  foaling  or  purchase,  we 
have  no  information  beyond  the  fact  that  she  was  purchased  out  of  a 
team  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  when  four  years  old,  and 
that  about  the  year  1823  she  produced  Abdallah.  In  one  place  it  is 
stated  she  was  foaled  in  1810,  but  there  is  no  known  fact  to  show  that 
this  is  within  seven  years  of  the  date.  All  of  this  goes  to  show  plainly 
enough  that  neither  the  value  of  Abdallah,  nor  the  importance  of  his 
dam  or  her  origin,  was  known  or  cared  for  imtil  thirty  or  forty  j^ears 
after  the  time  when  the  facts  could  have  been  ascertained.     In  fact. 


158  nAMBLETONIAN". 

however  much  some  may  have  fancied  there  was  inclosed  in  the  sidn 
of  Abdallah,  his  hideous  homehness  and  more  than  uncouth  temper 
and  disposition,  caused  all  persons,  even  those  who  owned  and  kept 
him,  to  turn  away  from  him  and  all  particulars  as  to  his  blood,  origin 
or  history,  with  the  utmost  indiflference  and  neglect.  It  was  consid- 
ered that  the  only  value  in  or  pertaining  to  him,  was  what  came  from 
him.  The  value  of  that  could  not  easily  be  overlooked,  and  was  not 
altogether  lost  sio-ht  of,  however  little  he  may  have  been  esteemed. 
Abdallah  was  never  broken  or  driven  in  harness;  an  attempt  w-as  made 
in  that  direction  when  he  was  four  years  old,  but  he  had  already 
ascertained  his  kingly  prerogative,  and  refused  to  submit  to  the  har- 
ness. The  effort  ended  in  failure,  and  from  that  time  it  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  repeated.  Several  reasons  may  be  assigned  for 
this.  He  was  recognized  from  his  breeding  as  a  blood  horse,  and  it 
w^as  not  common  to  work  or  drive  stallions  kept -for  breeding  purposes 
in  those  days.  He  was  exercised  under  the  saddle,  and  all  concur  in 
speaking  of  his  natural  trotting  action,  and  the  precision  and  vigor  of 
his  stroke.  He  never  exhibited  a  speed  better  than  a  mile  in  three 
minutes,  from  which  we  get  the  idea  that  after  all  he  was  no  great 
trotter. 

I  have  already  shown  that  the  Messengers  did  not  appear  at  first  so 
much  as  natural  trotters  as  possessing  an  aptitude  or  capacity  for  the 
trotting  gait.  This  was  doubtless  the  case  with  Abdallah.  Bell- 
founder  was  really  a  natural  trotter,  but  Abdallah  had  a  natural  apti- 
tude for  the  gait — a  capacity  in  that  direction,  wdth  very  powerful 
instinct  or  inclination  for  trotting,  inherited  from  both  sire  and  dam, 
but  more  especially  from  the  dam,  inasmuch  as  hers  was  in  a  high 
state  of  development,  and  kept  in  constant  exercise.  Had  Abdallah 
been  driven  on  the  road  to  the  same  extent  as  his  dam,  he  would 
have  made  a  fast  trotter,  and  such  employment  would  have  so  far 
overcome  all  conflicting  inclinations  in  his  blood,  as  to  have  greatly 
enhanced  his  trotting  quality  as  a  sire — great  as  it  was  from  inherit- 
ance; but  it  had  no  such  augmentation. 

Mambrino  was  a  large  and  very  coarse  son  of  IMessenger,  but  pos- 
sessed of  very  positive  quality.  He  was  not  handsome,  but  was  not 
so  homely  as  Abdallah.  He  was  strong  and  positive  in  his  qualities  of 
blood,  but  not  so  positive  as  Abdallah.  He  showed  much  of  the  high 
caste  of  merit  that  marked  Messenger,  but  did  not  exhibit  the  same 
high  qualities,  or  impress  them  on  his  produce  in  equal  degree  with 
Abdallah.     If  we  could  know  to  positive  ceitainty  all  of  the  composi- 


A BD ALL An.  159 

tion  of  Amazonia,  his  dam,  it  would  explain  in  great  degree,  perhaps 
■wholly,  where  Abdallah  obtained  such  a  concentration  of  Messenger 
roughness  and  high  quality,  surpassing,  in  the  outward  display  of  these 
traits  and  his  ability  to  impress  the  same  on  his  offspring,  all  of 
his  ancestr}^  Her  origin  might  shed  light  on  his  qualities,  and  in  the 
absence  of  such  definite  knowledge,  we  must  in  his  qualities  seek 
for  some  light  as  to  her  origin. 

A  close  study  of  Abdallah  must  be  the  first  point  for  consideration, 
and  I  here  present  a  descriptive  account  of  him,  by  one  of  the  ablest 
writers  of  his  own  day;  and  from  the  dim  light  then  shed  upon  the 
real  points  of  inquiry,  we  are  led  to  estimate  the  accuracy  and  value 
of  most  of  the  descriptive  accounts  we  have  of  horses  even  in  our  own 
day.     While  in  Kentucky  the  following  account  appeared: 

The  great  characteristics  of  Abdallah  are  fresh  in  our  memory,  but  as  we 
hope  to  see  him  again  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  we  will  only  undertake  to 
say  at  present,  that  he  is  a  rich  mahogany  bay,  and  measures  about  fifteen 
hands  three  inches  under  the  standard.  He  has  a  star,  and  very  possibly  one 
white  foot.  He  is  presumed  to  be  thoroughbred,  but  the  pedigree  of  his  dam 
is  lost.  He  was  bred  by  the  late  John  Tredwell,  Esq.,  at  Salisbury  Place, 
Long  Island,  and  was  got  by  Mambrino  (a  fine  son  of  the  renowned  imported 
Messenger — sire  of  Eclipse's  dam  and  a  host  of  good  ones)  out  of  Mr.  Tred- 
well's  celebrated  trotting  mare  Amazonia,  by  Messenger.  He  is  probably  now 
in  his  teens.  His  action  is  superb ;  in  his  three-year-old  form  Mr.  Tredwell 
considered  him  equal  to  a  mile  inside  of  three  minutes,  but  as  there  were  no 
public  purses  offered  at  that  time  for  trotting  horses,  Mr.  T.  resolved,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  form  and  blood,  to  otfer  his  services  to  breeders ;  consequently 
his  abilities  have  never  been  tested  on  the  course ;  in  the  stud,  however,  his 
success  has  been  most  remarkable — equal  to  that  of  Medoc,  Leviathan  and 
Priam,  on  the  race-course.  A  great  number  of  his  get  have  been  trained,  and 
on  our  trotting  courses  they  nearly  equal  in  number  that  of  all  the  other  sires 
of  trotting  horses  whatever.  Abdallah's  great  excellence  of  form  consists  in 
this,  that  he  is  "  a  pony  built  horse  "  of  nearly  sixteen  hands  high.  Without 
an  ounce  of  superfluous  flesh,  his  bone,  muscle  and  strength  are  placed  precisely 
where  each  are  wanted.  Of  course  his  loins  are  well  arched  and  supported  by 
strong  fillets;  his  quarters  are  broad  and  deep,  his  second  thighs  running 
quite  down  into  his  gaskins ;  his  thigh  and  stifle  unusually  muscular,  and  his 
limbs  are  broad  and  flat  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  tendons  standing  out  in 
bold  relief;  his  hocks,  like  his  knees,  are  very  broad,  and  he  stands  clear  and 
e^en  on  feet  of  admirable  form,  jointed  to  oblique  pasterns  of  the  utmost 
flexibility.  His  barrel  is  a  model  of  beauty  and  strength,  being  of  good 
length  and  ribbed  out  strongly  from  the  elbow  to  the  stifle ;  he  is  well  let 
down  in  the  flank  also,  so  as  to  present  no  indication  of  "  tuck,"  or  what  is 
sometimes  termed  "fiddle-flanked;"  many  horses  that  have  wide  hips — an 
•excellent  "point"  in  itself— present  such  an  appearance;  no  man  or  horse  can 
11 


160  HAMBLETONIAN. 

sustain  great  exertion  for  any  length  of  time  that  has  not  ample  space  for  th» 
carriage  of  his  breakfast.  One  of  Abdallah's  best  points  is  his  deep  and 
capacious  chest,  which  allows  the  utmost  freedom  to  his  respiratory  organs ; 
"through  the  heart"  he  will  measure  with  almost  any  crack  on  the  turf.  His 
forearm  and  second  thigh  are  made  up  of  long,  dry  muscle;  there  is  nothing 
"  beefy "  about  him.  His  neck  and  head,  though  well  shaped  and  properly 
set  on,  are  rather  heavy,  like  most  of  the  Messenger  stock;  still  his  eye 
denotes  good  temper,  combined  with  a  high  degree  of  intelligence.  As  it  is 
some  time  since  we  have  seen  Abdallah,  and  we  have  no  notes  whatever  to 
refer  to,  our  correspondent,  for  the  present,  will  be  kind  enough,  we  hope,  to 
take  the  will  for  the  deed,  and  accept  the  above,  which  we  have  writen  from 
memory — for  we  never  forget  a  horse  that  has  once  engaged  our  attention — as 
the  best  description  of  him  we  can  give  olT  hand.  Wm.  T.  Porter. 

It  also  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  insert  the  following,  from  the  pen 
of  one  who  knew  Abdallah  well,  and  whose  capability  and  faithful 
accuracy  will  need  no  voucher — Mr.  Alden  Goldsmith,  a  living  horse- 
man of  national  reputation: 

Abdallah  was,  in  color,  very  dark  bay,  or  bay  brown ;  in  height,  15.^  hands ; 
rather  leggy,  with  a  slim  body.  He  had  a  clean,  bony  head,  rather  large,  but 
his  clear,  full  eye  made  it  very  expressive.  It  was  set  on  a  long  and  very 
finely-formed  neck,  and  this  fine  neck  was  joined  to  as  high,  thin  and  blood- 
like looking  shoulder  as  ever  was  seen  on  a  race-horse.  His  shoulders  were 
very  deep,  whicli  gave  him  great  heart  room ;  he  was  what  horsemen  call  flat- 
ribbed — hips  very  long  and  fair  width ;  the  muscles  well  set  down  toward  the 
hock,  but  laid  on  flat,  which,  without  careful  examination,  gave  him  the 
appearance  of  being  light-quartered.  His  tail  was  very  tliin  and  light,  and 
high  set ;  when  in  motion,  he  carried  it  high.  When  led  out  of  his  stall,  he 
seemed  to  be  all  nerve  and  energy ;  his  gait  was  long,  low  and  sweeping ; 
some  would  say  he  lacked  knee-action,  and  that  his  hind  legs  were  too  straight 
to  become  the  sire  of  great  trotters.  Although,  taking  him  all  in  all,  he  was 
probably  the  most  remarkable  trotting  sire  ever  produced  on  this  continent, 
the  breeders  of  Orange  county  rejected  him,  and  he  was  taken  away  from  the 
county  because  he  would  not  pay  expenses.  The  objection  to  him  was,  that 
his  get  were  nei-vous  and  lacked  "brain  balance."  I  must  mention  one  other 
feature  about  him,  which  was  his  ear :  this  was  long,  very  thin  and  exceed- 
ingly sharp — a  feature  so  marked  in  its  shape  as  to  stamp  any  ear  of  like  form 
as  being  an  "Abdallah  ear." 

Mr.  Timothy  T.  Kissam,  a  nephew  of  Mr.  Tredwell,  the  breeder  of 
Abdallah,  wrote  as  follows,  concerning  him: 

Abdallah  had  a  long,  clean  head;  ear  long  and  tapering;  eyes  lively  and  of 
medium  size;  neck  light  and  set  low  on  the  withers;  up  carriage,  and  when 
in  action,  head  perpendicular ;  shoulders  upright ;  deep  in  girth ;  full  chested ; 
forelegs  very  wide  apart,  causing  him  to  stand  with  his  toes  in ;  light  bone, 
especially  below  the  knees  and  hocks ;  knees  little  forward ;  flat-ribbed  and 


ABD  ALLAH.  161 

short  in  flank ;  "  roached  back ; "  hip  and  loins  medium  breadth,  peaked  from 
hips  to  setting  on  of  the  tail,  which  was  very  thin-haired ;  long  from  hip  to 
hock ;  rather  thin  quarters,  and  short  to  fetlocks,  without  any  marks.  At  this 
time  about  four  years  old. 

I  may  add,  that  from  various  sources  I  gather  the  following  points 
descriptive  of  Abdallah:  He  was  a  blood  bay,  mth  a  glossy  skin  of 
the  finest  texture;  a  star  in  his  forehead,  and  left  hind  foot  white 
above  the  ankle;  his  head  was  large — bony,  but  thin  on  the  nose — 
rough  in  the  outline  and  abounding  in  expressive  angles.  His  eyes 
were  large  and  full,  standing  out  Like  a  bright  orb;  very  expressive. 
He  had  a  long,  big  and  rather  sharp  ear — one  of  the  most  noticeable 
features  about  him  being  his  big  ears.  His  shoulders  were  more 
sloping  than  the  average  Messenger,  and  the  withers  were  higher, 
showing  that  there  was  a  cross  toward  some  other  family  not  far  away. 
His  neck  was  rather  on  the  ewe  order,  with  little  or  no  crest;  his  throt- 
tle and  windpipe  the  largest  and  most  expressively  blood-like  to  be 
seen  anywhere.  His  limbs  and  feet  were  of  the  finest  quality;  and 
his  barrel  was  deep  at  the  chest  and  flat  on  the  sides  and  ribs,  very- 
narrow  at  the  hips  and  growing  more  peaked  and  flat-sided  as  you 
passed  toward  his  hind  quarters,  with  straight  and  flat  cat-hammed 
quarters,  not  very  long,  but  clean  and  blood-like  to  the  hock. 

Any  one  who  has  ever  seen  the  son  of  Volunteer,  called  Gold- 
smith's Abdallah,  and  observed  his  clean,  flat-sided,  but  blood-like, 
form,  perfection  of  limbs  and  feet,  narrowness  at  the  hips  and  loin, 
and  straight,  flat  hams  and  quarters,  will  have  no  difficulty  in  bring- 
ing in  clear  view  the  form  and  appearance  of  Abdallah,  with  the 
exception  of  his  more  homely  outline  of  head,  ear  and  body,  with  a 
tail  set  on  very  high,  and  no  more  hair  than  a  naked  stump  with  a 
small  and  dainty  wisp  at  and  near  the  end.  In  his  later  years  such  a 
tail  was  enough  to  complete  his  unsightly  form,  and  drive  away  any 
one  who  was  not  willing  to  accept  for  beauty  in  horseflesh  that  which 
was  hideously  repulsive  in  the  extreme. 

His  sire  was  a  bay,  and  Abdallah  was  a  dark  bay  of  very  clear 
caste ;  but  in  this  matter  of  color  his  offspring  differed  very  widely 
from  him  and  among  themselves.  Some  were  bays  and  browns,  but 
many  were  chestnuts  of  every  dull  shade  anywhere  to  be  seen;  many- 
light  or  yellow  bays,  and  many  with  light  colored  flanks  and  bellies. 
His  light  colored  bays  and  chestnuts,  or  buckskin  colored  produce, 
generally  had  a  list  or  stripe  extending  from  the  mane  to  the  tail,  the 
entire  length  of  the  spine;  and  this  may  be  regarded  as  an  Abdallah 


162  HAMBLETONIAN, 

mark,  so  common  was  it  in  his  immorliate  family.  They  also  followed 
him  -with  great  uniformity  in  the  long  ear,  the  large  and  prominent 
and  very  expressively  intelligent  eye;  in  the  flatness  of  the  sides,  the 
narrowness  at  the  hips  and  the  cat-haras;  the  clean  and  large  throttle 
and  windpipe,  and  often  in  a  most  hideous  Roman  nose,  broad  on  the 
side,  but  thin  in  the  front  profile.  Now  and  then,  however,  there  was 
as  fine  a  face  as  was  ever  carried  by  a  horse. 

These  peculiarities  of  form  Abdallah  did  not  derive  from  his  sire, 
although  Mambrino  was  no  real  beauty,  but  had  plenty  of  that 
coarseness  or  roughness  that  indicated  the  great  strength  and  solidity 
of  material  which  belonged  to  the  Messenger  family. 

The  essential  peculiarities  of  form  in  Abdallah  came  from  Amazo- 
nia— for  the  foregoing  portraiture  was  her  own  in  strong  degree.  She 
was  a  Messenger  in  strong  and  positive  outline,  both  in  form  and 
quality,  with  the  eccentricities  or  distinctive  features  above  delineated 
in  addition. 

Her  general  make-up,  in  its  bold  and  coarse  outline  and  intense 
positiveness,  would  not  in  that  day  be  sought  for  with  success  outside 
of  the  Messenger  family.  Happily,  we  are  not  left  to  grope  in  the 
dark  as  to  locality  or  channels  which  clearly  indicate  her  origin. 

The  account  we  have  of  Amazonia  was,  that  she  was  found  bv  Mr. 
B.  T.  Kissam,  a  wholesale  merchant  of  New  York,  in  a  team,  near 
Philadelphia,  where  Mr.  Kissam  was  on  an  excursion  of  pleasure.  We 
are  not  told  whether  it  was  in  New  Jersey  or  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Kissam  drove  her  for  a  short  time,  and  sold  her  to  his  vincle,  Mr.  John 
Tredwell,  on  Long  Island,  and  he  bred  her  to  Mambrino  and  raised 
Abdallah.  She  was  four  years  old  when  bought  by  Mr.  Kissam.  She 
was  a  chestnut  mare,  fifteen  hands  three  inches  high;  a  coarse,  flat- 
sided  mare,  with  a  big,  rough  head,  and  a  long,  homely  ear  and  ragged 
hips. 

She  is  described  by  those  who  knew  her  in  the  above  terms,  with 
the  further  statement  that  she  was  very  wide  between  the  eyes;  her 
head  very  long;  that  she  had  a  rat  tail,  and  powerful,  flat  legs,  but 
covered  with  coarse  hair  at  the  fetlock.  All  accounts  agree  in  saying 
she  was  a  trotter  of  the  highest  type — a  road  mare  of  great  distinc- 
tion, many  say  without  an  equal. 

No  question  seems  to  have  been  raised  in  any  of  the  journals,  or 
among  horsemen,  concerning  her  origin,  until  about  the  year  1870 — 
over  fifty  years  after  the  probable  time  when  she  »ppeai-ed  in  New 
York. 


ABDALLAH.  163 

In  answer  to  an  inquiry  made  at  that  time,  Mr,  Timothy  T.  Kissam, 
then  an  aged  man,  states  in  a  letter  that  his  brother,  B.  T.  Kissam, 
obtained  her  as  above  stated.  He  further  states  that  Amazonia  was 
represented  to  his  brother  to  have  been  sired  by  a  get  of  imported 
Messenger.  He  does  not  state  who  made  this  representation,  or  when 
it  was  made,  leaving  it  simply  a  matter  of  inference.  It  will  be  borne 
in  mind  that  this  is  merely  the  recollection  of  another  man,  and  not 
the  purchaser  himself,  and  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century,  about  a 
matter  that  did  not  seem  at  the  time  to  have  been  one  that  concerned 
anybody  very  greatly.  It  is  barely  sufficient  to  fix  the  locality  of  her 
origin  as  toward  Philadelphia,  and  the  repute  that  she  was  in  general 
terms  a  Messenger — a  general  cognomen  that  was  doubtless  at  that 
time  employed  to  indicate  the  family  of  horses  that  enjoyed  a  reputa- 
tion for  road  purposes  above  and  beyond  all  others.  There  is  notliing 
in  this,  and  I  have  not  anywhere  else  been  able  to  find  anything  that 
would  indicate  her  age  or  the  time.  The  same  remark  will  apply 
generally  to  nearly  all  the  horses  that  have  come  to  our  notice  in  the 
same  region  from  which  this  mare  came.  There  appears  to  be  scarcely 
any  record  or  cotemporary  publication  that  fixes  the  exact  date  of 
the  appearance  of  any  of  them,  and  we  are  left  to  the  memories  of 
individuals,  which  we  see  in  the  case  of  Abdallah,  the  most  noted 
horse  of  his  day,  difler  several  years,  both  as  to  the  date  of  his  birth 
and  that  of  his  death. 

Messenger  left  many  sons  and  daughters  on  Long  Island  and  in 
New  Jersey,  and  so  great  was  the  popularity  of  his  stock  in  New 
Jersey  and  the  vicinity  of  Pennsylvania  that  in  later  years  selections 
were  made  on  Lono-  Island  from  his  sons  that  were  to  be  taken  to  the 
further  side  of  New  Jersey. 

In  1834,  the  Messrs.  Downing  took  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  to  the  State  of  Kentucky  two  stallions,  one 
called  Grey  Messenger,  a  large  grey  stallion  with  an  immense  ear, 
which  he  gave  to  all  his  produce,  and  which  has  been  transmitted  to 
them  to  this  day,  as  a  marked  family  pecuHarity.  His  pedigree  was 
as  follows : 

Grey  Messenger  by  Dove,  1st  dam  by  Sir  Solomon ;  2d  dam  by 
Sanspariel  ;  3rd  dam  by  imp.  Messenger;  Dove,  by  All-fours,  alias 
Saratoga,  and  he  by  imported  Messenger;  1st  dam  by  imp.  Expedition; 
2d  dam  by  imp.  Messenger. 

The  above  pedigree  shows  that  in-breeding  in  the  blood  of  Messen- 
ger was  and  had  been  common  in  New  Jersey  at  and  prior  to  the 
date  above  given. 


164  HAMBLETONIAN". 

Of  Saratoga,  I  find  tte  following  in  "Wallace's  Monthly: 

Saratoga  was  a  flea-bitten  grey,  foaled  about  1805,  got  by  imp.  Messenger, 
dam  unknown.  It  is  believed  he  was  bred  on  Long  Island,  but  the  name  and 
residence  of  his  breeder  as  well  as  his  pedigree  on  the  side  of  his  dam  have 
been  lost.  He  was  driven  in  harness  and  did  service  in  a  number  of  counties 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  sold  at  auction  in  Philadelphia  in  the  spring  of  1813, 
to  James  Dubois,  of  Salem  county,  New  Jersey.  He  was  a  great,  strong 
horse,  and  was  kept  to  work  on  the  farm  of  his  owner.  *  *  *  He  was  a 
slashing  natural  trotter.  *  *  *  ^  number  of  his  progeny  were  fast  trotters. 
*  *  *  Among  the  sons  of  this  horse,  one  called  Dove  was  the  most  distin- 
guished in  the  stud. 

The  editor  of  the  Monthly  acknowledges  himself  mainly  indebted 
to  Mr.  Edward  Van  Meter,  an  aged  and  eminent  lawyer  of  Salem,  New 
Jersey,  for  most  of  his  information  in  regard  to  these  families,  and 
has  very  kindly  furnished  me  the  original  letters  from  Mr.  Van  Meter, 
for  which  favor  I  wish  here  to  make  my  acknowledgments.  Mr.  Van 
Meter  speaks  generally  from  an  intimate  personal  knowledge,  but  the 
same  allowance  must,  be  made  for  probable  inaccuracy  as  to  dates,  at 
this  remote  period.     He  says : 

Saratoga  was  sire  of  Charlotte  Grey,  a  filly,  ahead  of  anything  in  the 
trotting  line  in  that  region.  Mr.  Dubois  also  raised  a  grey  colt  called  Dove, 
by  this  Saratoga. 

Dove  was  about  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  high,  lengthy,  long  ears,  very 
coarse  and  homely,  big  head,  very  stout  all  over,  with  flat  legs.  It  has  been 
said  of  him,  and  I  believe  truly,  that  he  could  pass  eveiy  horse  on  a  trot, 
whenever  pushed  up,  that  came  in  contact  with  him  from  1817  until  he  became 
injured  and  unfit  for  service.  He  was  sold  in  1819  to  Isaac  Elwell,  keeper  of 
a  hotel  near  Salem,  and  by  him  owned  until  his  death,  leaving  perhaps  fifty 
to  seventy-five  foals,  the  most  of  them  having  a  striking  resemblance  to  their 
sire.  I  had  opportunity  to  know  much  of  Dove's  progeny.  They  were  fit  for 
all  service,  the  plow,  the  team  or  the  road,  kind  and  docile  at  work,  prompt 
and  free  drivers,  and  when  pushed  for  a  display  of  speed,  the  average  of  the 
whole  progeny  would  go  away  from  any  horse  on  a  trot,  that  could  not  beat 
8:30  to  a  mile.  These  trotting  characteristics  of  Dove  have  been  transmitted 
to  his  descendants  through  several  generations,  and  now  there  is  much  of  his 
progeny  in  this  vicinity,  which  is  recognized  as  the  descendants  of  long-eared 
Dove. 

In  another  letter,  the  same  gentleman  says : 

There  was  never  a  stallion  in  the  county  of  Salem  so  much  ridiculed  as  this 
stallion  Dove  in  his  day.  He  was  the  ugliest  living  stallion.  He  had  a  nice 
mane,  good  tail  set  on  high,  but  his  general  appearance  was  rough  as  rough 
could  be.  He  had  raw  bones,  big  head,  long  ears,  legs  flat  and  wide,  feet  large 
and  flat.    *    ♦    *    And  I  speak  sincerely  when  I  declare  that  no  horse  in  my 


ABDALLAH.  165 

day  has  left  progeny  and  tlieir  descendants  so  distinctly  marked  as  trotters,  as 
this  said  long-eared  Dove. 

It  was  nest  to  an  impossibility  to  purchase  one  of  them.    They  remained 
in  families  as  a  sort  of  heir-loom,  passing  from  father  to  son. 

Mr.  Van  Meter  speaks  of  having  an  intimate  personal  knowledge  of 
the  horses  of  that  part  of  New  Jersey,  from  as  early  a  date  as  1808, 
and  the  above  is  certainly  a  very  forcible  and  well-expressed  descrip- 
tion of  a  family  that  show  very  strong  claims  to  kinship  with  the  dam 
of  Abdallah. 

The  evidences  in  this  case  as  to  the  origin  of  Amazonia  come  very 
close  to  fixing  the  fact  vnth  great  certainty.  "We  know  the  exact 
region  where  she  was  produced — and,  as  educated  horsemen,  we  also 
know  that  in  all  the  wide  range  of  American  breeding  she  could  have 
found  the  traits  and  qualities  she  displayed  nowhere  else.  That  is 
one  of  the  certainties  of  the  case.  The  dates  are  near  enough  to  make 
her  either  a  daughter  of  Saratoga  or  of  Dove.  If  Saratoga  could  pro- 
duce such  a  horse  as  Dove,  he  has  in  him  the  best  possible  certificate 
that  he  could  also  produce  such  a  mare  as  Amazonia.  That  she  was 
a  daughter  of  Saratoga  is  very  probable — that  she  was  a  daughter  of 
Dove  is  still  more  probable.  That  she  also  had  some  crosses  of  high 
racing  blood,  such  as  that  of  Sir  Solomon  or  imp.  Expedition,  is  also 
probable.  There  was  plenty  of  each  in  that  exact  locality  at  that 
time.  That  she  possessed  a  strong  concentration  of  Messenger  blood, 
derived  from  channels  used  to  road  service,  where  the  galloping 
instincts  of  the  Arab  in  Messenger  had  been  overcome  by  the  strongly 
reinforced  road  instincts  of  Sampson,  is  manifest  from  her  own  char- 
acter. It  was  this  which  made  Abdallah  the  king  of  trotting  stal- 
lions— although  he  never  trotted  a  race  in  his  life. 

It  is  apparent  that  Abdallah  derived  more  of  his  trotting  quality 
from  Amazonia  than  he  did  from  ]\Iambrino.  Why  should  this  be, 
if  this  quality  was  the  paramount  and  natural  instinct  of  Messenger 
and  Mambrino?  Can  the  diluted  and  divided  currents,  though  they 
be  several,  have  more  force  and  volume  than  the  fountain-head?  The 
real  fact  is  that,  although  Messenger  and  Mambrino  each  possessed 
trotting  instinct  in  strong  degree,  such  was  not  their  dominant  or  para- 
mount trait.  They  had  two  contending  forces  in  their  composition, 
and  when  crossed  with  racing  or  thoroughbred  families,  the  galloping 
instinct,  by  reason  of  reinforcement,  became  dominant;  but  in  the 
case  of  the  part-bred  and  road  stock,  vise  and  employment  invigorated 
the  trotting  quality;   and  in  Dove  and  Amazonia,  so  many  currents  of 


166  HAMBLETONIAN-. 

this  invigorated  trotting  instinct  united — with  the  opposing  force 
either  strongly  subdued  or  entirely  eliminated  by  the  other  elements 
■mth  which  it  had  been  united  and  by  the  use  and  employment  to 
which  it  had  been  subjected,  that  the  dominant  and  paramount  im- 
pulses of  the  horse  were  those  of  a  trotter.  Although  Abdallah  was- 
not  employed  or  used  as  a  trotter  or  road  horse  to  any  degree  that  could 
give  him  that  character,  he  was  the  greatest  trotting  sire  of  his  day, 
and  perhaps  the  greatest  we  have  ever  seen.  It  was  discovered  at  an 
early  day  that  his  impressiveness  in  the  matter  of  trotting  quality  was 
unlimited. 

Having  given  a  full  outline  of  Abdallah,  the  sire  of  Hambletonian, 
I  may  return  to  his   dam,  the  daughter  of  imported    Bellfounder. 
Mr.  Jonas  Seely,   now  upward  of  eighty  years  of  age,  has  recently 
given  a  succinct  history  of  the  breeding  and  ownership  of  this  mare. 
He  says  that  One  Eye,  the  daughter  of  Hambletonian,  son  of  Messen- 
ger, having  been  sold  to  his   brother-in-law,  Mr.  Josiah  Jackson,  she 
was  taken  to  Duchess  county,  to  be  bred  to  Bellfounder.     This  shows 
the    estimation  in   which  Bellfounder  was  held  in   Orange    county. 
That  she  produced  a  filly — the  mare  now  under  consideration;  that 
this  filly  was  sold  by  Mr.  Jackson,  when  three  years  old,  for   three 
hundred  dollars — a  pretty  round  price   in  those  days  for  a  three-year- 
old  filly;  that  Peter  Seely,  the  purchaser,  sold  her  to  Ebenezer  Pray 
for  four  hundred  dollars;  that  Mr.   Pray  sold  her  to  Mr.   Chi  vers,  a 
butcher  in  New  York,  for  five  hundred  dollars,  and  Mr,  Chivers  sold 
her  to  a  banker  for  six  hundred  dollars;  that  while  owned  by  the  last 
purchaser  named,  she  was  hurt  and  was  lame  and  unfit  for  the  road; 
that  she  was  then  purchased  by  Charles  Kent,  and  became  thence 
afterward  known  as  the  Charles  Kent  mare;  that  Kent  bred  her  to 
Tom  Thumb,  and  the  produce  was  a  filly,  which  became  the  dam  of 
Greene's  Bashaw.     In  1844  Mr.  Jonas  Seely  purchased  her  from  Kent 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars — mare  and  foal;  she  was  then 
very  lame.     While  in  possession  of  Mr.  Seely  at  this  time,  she  produced 
three  foals — ^two  fillies,  and  the  colt  Hambletonian  by  Abdallah.     In 
the  spring  of  1849  he  sold  the  mare  and  her  foal  to  Mr.  Rysdyk,  ta 
be  delivered  in  the  fall. 

The  prices  at  which  this  mare  was  sold  while  in  condition  for  use  on 
the  road,  indicated  her  great  superiority,  although  she  was  not  kept 
for  racing  purposes,  and  was  simply  a  road  mare  as  was  Amazonia. 
Aside  from  the  blood  and  inherited  qualities  of  each  of  these  mares, 
the  long  and  continuous  use  of  each  on  the  road,  and  the  very  power- 


ABDALLAH.  167 

fnl  influence  each  had  on  their  distinguished  ofi"spring,  are  facts  that 
are  eminently  suggestive  to  the  student  in  the  breeding  of  trotters. 

We  are  now  brought  to  consider  the  question  of  the  respective 
shares  or  influence  each  had  in  the  composition  of  Hambletonian. 

Not  overlooking  the  positive  caste  and  strong  in-breeding  of  Abdal- 
lah  in  the  blood  of  Messenger,  as  already  indicated,  we  must  also  keep 
in  view  the  fact  that  the  grandam.  One  Eye,  and  the  great  grandam, 
Silvertail,  were  of  the  same  famous  and  all-prevailing  blood — leaving 
the  one  cross  of  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  in  the  dam  of  Hambletonian 
to  contend  with  tremendous  odds,  if  there  was  any  conflict  in  the  ten- 
dencies or  operations  of  the  two  blood  forces. 

That  the  Kent  mare  was  a  trotter,  all  accounts  establish;  that  she 
was  steady,  level  and  kind,  is  also  true,  while  the  same  can  not  be 
said  of  her  own  dam.  One  Eye.  For  the  purpose  of  detracting  from 
the  merits  of  Bellfounder,  it  has  been  found  convenient  to  assert  that 
One  Eye  was  a  wonderful  trotter — one  of  the  greatest  mares  the 
country  has  possessed — that  she  was  a  regular  Lady  Thorn,  only 
lacking  the  training  and  development.  Such  distinctive  greatness 
was  not  discovered  by  any  of  those  who  owned  or  knew  her  in  her 
own  day;  and  while  it  is  undoubtedly  true  she  was  a  good  mare,  the 
discovery  of  her  great  qualities  as  a  roadster  was  reserved  for  a  sub- 
sequent generation.  The  excellence  of  her  daughter,  and  the  great- 
ness of  her  grandson,  brought  the  fact  to  light.  While  the  Messen- 
gers had  ready  impulses  for  trotting,  they  had  a  nervous  temperament 
of  a  high  order;  and  the  Bellfounders  were  as  noted  for  their  kindness 
and  docility  of  temper. 

The  Bellfounder  blood  did  not  impart  its  trotting  quality  to  all  bloods 
alike.  From  Lady  Alport,  by  Marabrino,  a  mare  of  blood  constituents 
very  much  like  One  Eye,  two  foals  came  to  Bellfounder,  both  males, 
neither  possessing  the  trotting  quality  displayed  by  the  Kent  mare. 
They  were  not  impressive  or  controlling  sires  in  any  great  degree. 
The  Kent  mare,  with  her  slight  cross  of  Bellfounder  blood,  produced 
a  son  that  became  the  founder  of  the  greatest  family  of  trotting  horses 
we  have  ever  seen,  and  instead  of  yielding  all  to  the  magical  and 
prepotent  influence  of  Abdallah  in  the  composition  of  her  son,  she 
scarcely  left  enough  resemblance  to  the  sire  to  found  an  honest  claim 
to  kinship. 

The  head,  which  is  not  Bellfounder,  could  readily  be  credited  to  the 
Messenger  blood  in  the  grandam;  while  every  other  important  outward 
or  physical  characteristic  is  essentially  Bellfounder. 


168  HAMBLETONIAN. 

Hamljletonian  was  one  inch  narrower  from  hip  to  hip  than  the  aver- 
age of  his  sons,  and  he  had  not  the  same  lateral  roundness  over  the 
hips  and  hindquarters  that  would  be  indicated  by  the  roundness  and 
fullness  toward  the  posterior  view  and  in  the  quarters.  In  this  respect 
the  influence  of  Abdallah  may  have  been  present,  but  certainly  his 
growthy  buttock,  full  quarters  and  immense  muscular  development 
doAvn  to  within  nine  inches  of  the  hock,  especially  on  the  inside  of 
the  thighs,  came  not  from  Abdallah.  His  ear  was  that  of  Bellfounder, 
while  his  eye  and  head,  nose,  face,  jaw,  throttle  and  windpipe  were 
those  of  Abdallah.  Elsewhere  in  form  he  was  after  the  model  of 
Bellfounder,  and  in  temper  and  disposition  he  was  as  kind  and  gentle 
as  a  lamb. 

I  have  referred  to  the  variable  color  of  the  produce  of  Abdallah, 
and  the  large  number  of  buckskins  or  chestnut  shades  and  yellow 
bays.  Hambletonian,  while  a  bright  and  beautiful  bay  himself,  it  is 
said,  never  produced  a  chestnut  or  sorrel,  his  pi'oduce  being  bays  and 
browns  with  great  uniformity.  Color  in  Hambletonian  was  certainly 
a  quality  derived  from  Bellfounder.  This  matter  of  color  in  Hamble- 
tonian and  his  own  offspring  in  large  part  applies  to  the  produce  of 
his  sons.  The  uniformity  of  the  bay  and  brown  color  in  the  family, 
even  to  the  third  generation,  may  be  regarded  as  a  very  striking  trait 
of  the  race  or  breed.  We  have  not  yet  produced  a  family  of  horses 
of  more  fixed  and  uniform  colors — a  very  strong  testimony  to  the 
power  of  Bellfounder  in  this  one  respect,  wherever  he  may  have 
derived  the  quality  himself. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  in  Hamble- 
tonian, a  grandson,  and  only  possessing,. arithmetically,  one-quarter  of 
the  Bellfounder  element,  had  to  contend  with  that  of  Abdallah,  a  son 
of  a  thoroughbred  and  a  grandson  of  Messenger,  reinforced  by  that 
of  the  in-bred  granddaughter  of  Messenger — odds  most  unequal — 
and  yet,  in  tliis  contest,  came  out  victor,  in  so  much  of  the  outward  or 
apparent  physical  conformation  of  the  Hambletonian,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  confess  that  tliis  blood  had  qualities  of  a  most  positive, 
obstinate  and  unyielding  character. 

These  facts  would  tend  to  show  that  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  was 
really  more  potential  than  that  of  Abdallah;  and  in  the  composition 
of  Hambletonian  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  influence  of  the  Bell- 
founder element  seems  to  have  been  dominant.  Nevertheless,  as  a 
sire,  we  know  that  Bellfounder  did  not  generally  display  more  than  a 
fraction  of  the  impressiveness  of  Abdallah;  and  that  Hambletonian, 


ABDALLAH.  169 

as  a  stallion,  was  not  as  universally  successful  as  Abdallah — and  the 
real  reason  is,  that  there  was  one  element  in  the  Bellfounder  blood 
that  stood  in  the  way,  and  when  that  element  was  present  in  force,  or 
operative,  there  was  no  success.  It  seemed  to  be  an  element  that, 
like  the  galloping  instinct  in  Messenger,  had  to  be  diluted  by  other 
crosses,  and  thus  prepared  for  effective  use,  and  then  its  trotting  force 
came  out  in  a  degree  that  surpassed  all  others. 

Hambletonian  was  not  a  success  with  Bellfounder  mares,  and  there 
are  but  two  instances,  I  believe,  in  which  he  displayed  signal  success 
with  daughters  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay;  but  when  the  blood  had  gone 
through  the  necessary  preparation  of  a  further  remove  from  the  parent 
stock;  when  the  Suffolk  Punch  element  (if  it  was  that)  was  rendered 
a  little  more  soluble  in  his  sons  by  other  crosses,  the  success  comes 
out  in  a  degree  that  at  present  promises  to  surpass  all  others.  It  was 
the  same  way  with  the  blood  of  Messenger.  It  worked  best  when  it 
got  a  little  way  distant  from  the  fountain-head;  and  after  mixing 
something  else  as  an  alloy,  the  reunion  of  the  diluted  channels  sur- 
passed the  original  and  more  concentrated  currents. 

The  acknowledged  value  of  the  blood  of  Messenger,  and  its  all- 
predominating  character  in  every  compound  of  which  it  forms  a  part, 
together  with  its  almost  universal  prevalence  in  the  American  trotter, 
goes  far  to  induce  those  who  now  think  favorably  of  the  blood  of 
Bellfounder,  as  an  outcross  in  Hambletonian,  to  yet  place  a  relatively 
low  estimate  on  its  power  and  value,  as  compared  with  that  of  Mes- 
senger in  the  same  combination.  I  quote  the  following  from  an 
•esteemed  writer: 

Tlie  reason  why  Hambletonian  is  higher  bred,  in  a  trotting  sense,  is  not 
fiimply  tha't  he  has  a  larger  percentage  of  Messenger  blood  than  other  stal- 
lions, but  because  he  has  a  larger  percentage  of  the  very  choicest  of  Messenger 
blood.  To  my  mind,  it  has  long  appeared  a  demonstrated  fact  that  a  strain  of 
Messenger  blood  through  AhdaUah  is  worth  more,  in  a  trotting  combination, 
than  two  (or  as  many  more  as  you  like)  of  an  equal  number  of  removes  that 
do  not  trace  through  him ;  in  short,  that  Abdallah,  of  all  the  sons  and  grand- 
sons of  Messenger,  was  by  far  the  greatest — greater  than  the  proud  source, 
Messenger  himself — and  as  much  superior  to  his  competitors  as  his  son,  Ham- 
bletonian, has  since  been  to  his.  But  Abdallah  has  other  sons !  Yes,  a  few 
were  kept  entire,  but  none  that  were  quite  so  well  bred,  in  trotting  strains  on 
the  dam's  side,  as  Hambletonian,  who  has  a  double  cross  of  Messenger  from 
her;  and  considering  the  outcross  from  Bellfounder  that  intervened  between 
this  double  cross  and  the  kindred  strain  through  Abdallah,  the  distribution 
may  be  considered  as  nearly  perfect  as  could  be  made.  There  are  those  who 
•consider  that  the  Bellfounder  cross,  in  the  pedigree  of  Hambletonian,  is  no 


170  HAMBLETONIAIT. 

advantage  to  it ;  that  it  was  a  positive  detriment,  and  that,  had  a  stallion  beeu 
produced  by  Abdallah  and  the  grandam  of  Hambletonian  (One  Eye)  direct, 
we  should  have  had  a  superior  to  Hambletonian.  For  my  own  part,  while  I 
am  a  firm  advocate  of  in-breeding,  I  believe  that  the  outcross  was  the  magic 
key  which  imlocked  the  treasure  secured  by  the  multiplied  strains  from  Mcs- 
senger,  and  presented  them  ready  for  use,  to  the  best  advantage,  in  Hamble- 
tonian. 

And  the  same  writer,  on  another  occasion,  says: 

The  first  fault  that  seems  to  be  found  with  Bellfounder  is,  that  in  crossing 
upon  the  various  Messenger  branches  (which  were  generally  in-bred)  he  did 
not  wipe  out  their  characteristics  and  establish  his  own  type  in  the  descend- 
ing lines.  I  regard  this  as  a  virtue  rather  than  a  fault,  for  the  Messenger  type 
was  the  superior  of  the  two,  and  a  positive  element  that  clashed  with  its  char- 
acteristics would  have  injured  the  balance  of  forces.  The  great  positive 
elements  of  the  Messenger  lines  are:  trotting  instinct,  great  nervous  force 
well  balanced,  and  physical  soundness.  The  positive  elements  of  the  Bell- 
founders  seem  to  have  been :  ample  nervous  force  exceedingly  well  balanced, 
physical  soundness,  and  fixedness  of  form  and  color,  with  much  less  trotting 
instinct,  though  not  devoid  of  it,  than  the  Messengers.  The  positive  elements 
which  have  made  trotting  families  in  the  past,  are :  trotting  instinct  (a  quality 
of  the  temperament  which  finds  expression  in  trotting  action),  and  nervous 
force,  for  the  reason  that  speed  at  that  gait  is  the  first  element  in  a  trotter,  and 
the  one  that  has  heretofore  been  the  most  difficult  to  obtain.  Hence,  the  Mes- 
sengers overshadow  the  Bellfounders  in  proportion  as  they  exceed  them  in 
trotting  instinct  and  nervous  force.  Training,  selection  and  systematic  breed- 
ing have  developed  these  qualities  in  many  families,  and  made  it  less  difficult 
at  this  day  to  breed  trotting  speed  than  formerly ;  and  although  this  part  of 
the  trotting  economy  must  always  rank  highest,  the  future  is  more  likely  to 
give  greater  scope  for  obtaining  it,  with  sufficient  certainty  to  warrant  some 
deviation  in  favor  of  crosses  for  the  improvement  of  form,  temper,  quality, 
size,  and  otlier  requisites  of  a  perfect  horse.  But  because  he  did  not  establish 
a  family,  I  do  not  see  that  it  follows,  necessarily,  that  it  was  a  "  cold  element," 
and  "  positive  only  in  its  coarseness,"  or  "  the  one  poor  cross  we  know  in  Ham- 
bletonian." Had  form,  color,  temper,  soundness,  and  I  will  add  quality,  been 
as  eagerly  sought  as  speed,  who  will  say  that  Bellfounder  would  not  have 
established  a  family,  or  that  he  has  not  left  his  impress — a  gracious  one— upon 
the  families  that  are  established  ? 

It  is  apparent  that  the  writer  of  the  foregoing  had  not  studied  the 
respective  bloods  of  Bellfounder  and  Messenger  in  the  light  afforded 
by  our  analysis  of  the  antecedents  of  which  each  was  composed; 
although  he  expresses  some  evident  truths,  and  what  is  suggestive  of 
even  more.  It  is  not  true  that  Hambletonian  was  so  highly  bred  in 
consequence  of  his  possession  of  so  much  of  the  blood,  or  even  of  the 
choicest  strains  of  the  blood  of  Messenger;  but  it  is  true  that  he  waa 


ABD ALLAH.  171 

Ughly  bred  in  consequence  of  his  possession  of  such  strains  in  union 
with  other  elements  that  counteracted  the  tendencies  in  the  Messen- 
ger blood  that  were  not  of  a  real  trotting  character,  and  not  only 
caused  it  to  display  its  trotting  quality  in  the  highest  degree,  but  also 
added  thereto  trotting  instincts  of  an  order  really  superior  to  those  of 
the  Messenger  blood.  A  part  of  these  elements  are  fotind  in  Abdal- 
lah,  and  had  been  derived  by  him  from  his  dam,  but  richer  still  were 
the  qualities  derived  from  Bellfoundex-. 

Why  was  Abdallah  superior  to  Messenger  himself  ?  This  is  asserted 
and  is  true,  but  the  reason  is  not  given  by  the  writer  quoted.  The  rea- 
son was  that  which  has  been  given  above — that  in  Abdallah's  dam  the 
blood  of  Messeno-er  was  found  in  a  state  eliminated  from  the  tendencies 
and  qualities  that  interfered  with  its  more  perfect  trotting  qualities, 
and  hence  had  more  trotting  force.  We  have  no  evidence  whatever 
that  such  was  the  case  to  any  great  degree  with  One  Eye,  the  grandam 
of  Hambletonion,  but  the  Kent  mare  had  scarcely  any  other  character 
than  that  of  a  trotter.  She  was  of  Bellfounder  bone,  flesh,  blood  and 
nerve.  Why  he  impressed  his  own  character  on  her  so  much  more  pos- 
itively than  he  did  on  the  produce  of  Lady  Alport  and  other  high  or 
low-bred  mares,  we  do  not  know.  We  can  never  understand  the  exact 
conditions  that  cause  such  differences  in  the  character  of  offspring.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  instances  in  which  Bellfounder  left  such  an 
impress  were  not  numerous,  but  such  as  have  come  to  our  notice  were 
striking  to  a  remarkable  degree;  and  further, it  must  not  be  overlooked 
as  a  fact,  that  his  excellences  were  best  shown,  when  seen  at  all,  in 
connection  with  strong  currents  of  Messenger  blood.  The  son  through 
which  the  greatest  excellences  came  out,  was  Trempses  Bellfounder, 
and  his  dam  was  a  large  grey  mare,  said  to  be  of  Messenger  blood. 
He  produced  Latourettes  Bellfounder,  the  sire  of  Conqueror,  and  left 
some  other  traces  of  his  blood  in  other  valuable  animals.  The  dam 
of  Conqueror  was  by  Mambrino,and  the  grandam  a  reputed  daughter 
of  Messenger.  Here,  again,  the  idle  and  foolish  claim  will  again  be 
set  up  that  the  merit  was  due  altogether  to  the  daughter  of  Mambrino. 
It  might  be  some  answer  to  inquire  why  the  mare  by  Mambrino 
did  not  produce  such  a  horse  as  Conqueror  from  some  other  union; 
why  Abdallah  did  not  produce  Sir  Walter,  his  fastest  son,  from  some 
other  than  a  daughter  of  Bellfounder;  why  he  did  not  give  us  Ham- 
iDletonian,  the  progenitor  of  a  great  family  of  trotters  from  other  than 
a  daughter  of  Bellfounder,  when  he  had  so  many  rich  in  Messenger 
blood  to  choose  from;  and  further,  why  the  sons  of  Hanibletonian  are 


172  HAMBLETONIATT. 

now  finding  their  most  brilliant  successes  in  the  daughters  of  Harry 
Clay,  whose  dam  was  a  daughter  of  Bellfounder, 

These  are  not  accidental  coincidences.  There  must  be  some  rea- 
son, sound  in  principle  and  philosophy,  back  of  all  these  facts.  There 
must  be  some  reason  also  why  Bellfounder  did  not  succeed  so  well 
with  other  mares,  and  a  reason  also,  why  Hambletonian  did  not  suc- 
ceed with  mares  of  Bellfounder  blood  equally  with  his  sons.  There 
is  also  a  reason  why  those  sons  of  Hambletonian  are  most  successful 
where  the  Bellfounder  element  is  held  in  a  certain  ratio  of  force  and 
prominence,  for  it  is  apparent  to  my  mind  that  the  success  of  the 
family  depends  in  large  degree  on  the  force  and  operative  power  or 
quality  of  the  Bellfounder  element. 

The  writer  above  quoted, says:  "The  positive  elements  of  the  Mes- 
senger lines  are :  trotting  instinct,  great  nervous  force  well  balanced,  and 
physical  soundness."  To  this  I  say,  the  first  and  third  elements  were 
undoubted;  the  second  was  only  true  when  the  original  and  native 
temperament  of  the  Messenger  had  been  toned  down  by  use  and 
employment  on  the  road  or  the  introduction  of  elements  that  gave 
them  that  quality.  They  had  too  much  nervous  force  to  be  under 
control — not  too  much  for  the  demand  of  great  occasions,  but  more 
than  they  could  properl}?-  balance. 

He  says  Bellfounder  had  "ample  nervous  force  exceedingly  well 
balanced,  physical  soundness,  and  fixedness  of  form  and  color,  with 
much  less  trotting  instinct      *     *     *     than  the  Messengers." 

As  to  the  first,  ample  nervous  force,  they  had  a  large  share  of  it,, 
but  the  perfection  of  it  was  that  it  was  so  well  balanced.  It  was  not 
equal  in  force  to  that  of  the  Messengers,  it  could  not  with  any  recent 
infusion  of  cold  or  common  blood  equal  the  long  line  of  descent  from 
the  pure  blood  of  the  Arabs  and  Barbs  that  had  commingled  with  that 
of  the  sire  of  Sampson — this  sire  not  a  low-bred  horse  by  any  means. 
But  the  perfection  of  Bellfounder  lay  in  his  perfectly  balanced  and 
uncontrollable  trotting  instinct.  He  had  a  great  deal  of  nervous 
force,  but  his  trotting  instinct  was  simply  the  whole  controlling  mental 
character  of  the  horse.  His  blood  cooled  and  steadied  the  hot  and 
intractable  temper  in  Abdallah.  The  speed  and  the  high  quality  may 
have  come  from  Abdallah,  but  the  quiet  and  level  temper — the  inclina- 
tion to  the  trotting  gait  as  against  all  others  in  the  face  of  all  disturbing 
crosses — these  came  in  the  largest  degree  from  Bellfounder. 

That  the  two  bloods  found  their  chief  development  and  richest  dis- 
plays in  union  each  with  the  other,  is  evidence  that  they  had  something 


ABDALLAn.  173 

akin  in  their  origin,  and  close  study  of  the  two  families  reveals  the 
fact  that  in  general  physical  conformation  they  differ  but  slightly. 

The  traces  of  Suffolk  Punch  in  Bellfounder  and  Hambletonian  are 
clear,  and  hard  to  exclude;  and  the  known  fact  that  in  the  very  county 
and  district  of  England  where  Bellfounder  was  bred,  the  stock  of 
Sampson  had  been  much  prized  for  road  horses;  that  Useful  Cub,  the 
produce  of  a  Suffolk  Punch  from  a  granddaughter  of  Sampson,  was  a 
popular  trotting  stallion  and  could  trot  seventeen  miles  within  an  hour, 
and  that  his  repute  went  in  along  with  that  of  old  Bellfounder,  the 
original,  under  the  then  common  designation  of  a  Noefole:  Tkottee, 
— all  go  to  render  it  quite  probable,  with  strong  evidences  of  its  truth, 
that  the  dam  of  the  original  Bellfounder  may  have  been  a  daughter  of 
this  same  Useful  Cub.  The  time  and  the  place  and  the  blood  qualities 
of  the  descendants  of  Bellfounder  all  point  to  such  a  conclusion.  It  is 
alleged  that  Bellfounder  the  original,  was  a  true  descendant  of  the 
Fireaways,  and  if  by  that  we  learn  that  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  on 
the  male  side,  it  leaves  it  quite  probable  that  his  dam  was  a  daughter  of 
Useful  Cub.  This  would  comport  entirely  with  the  locality,  the  chro- 
nology and  the  blood  traits  found  in  the  offspring  even  to  this  day. 
Such  evidences  must  often  be  considered  and  in  many  cases  have  great 
weight. 

1  am  doubtless  met  with  the  inquiry,  whether  Hambletonian  was 
himself  a  trotter;  for,  with  all  the  fame  of  his  stock  and  of  himself  as 
the  sire  of  great  trotters  and  trotting  sires,  the  world  has  little  knowl- 
edge of  his  performances  in  the  way  of  speed,  or  his  ability  to  show 
any  of  that  marvellous  speed  which  in  his  sons  and  daughters  has 
given  him  so  great  renown.  In  this  particular  he  is  somewhat  like 
the  distinguished  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  whose  full  sister  was  a  star 
of  the  first  magnitude,  and  who,  as  a  producer  of  trotters  of  early 
speed,  has  found  no  superior,  and  perhaps  no  equal,  but  of  whose 
ability  to  trot  fast  the  world  knows  nothing. 

So  little  was  Hambletonian  ever  seen  in  harness,  and  so  studiously 
was  he  excluded  from  all  public  exhibitions  of  speed,  or  even  trotting 
action,  that  the  public  have  grown  in  the  impression  that  he  was  in  no 
sense  a  trotter;  and  such  opinion  has  at  length  become  wide-spread 
and  almost  universal.  The  owner  of  Hambletonian  was  a  man  quite 
positive  in  his  ways  and  opinions,  and  while  he  seemed  to  think  he  had 
the  best  horse  ever  produced,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  he  was  at  all 
times  averse  to  trotting  him  in  any  contests,  or  even  exhibitions  of 
speed.    The  life  of  Hambletonian  has  been   one  of  stallion-service. 


174  HAMBLETONIAN. 

and  very  rarely  has  any  person  other  than  his  owner  had  opportunity 
■  to  know  or  form  any  approximate  idea  of  his  powers  as  a  trotter. 
Notwithstanding  this,  those  who  knew  the  horse  best,  have  at  all  times 
entertained  the  opinion  that,  as  a  trotter,  he  had  a  capacity  that  was  of 
the  highest  order,  and  far  superior  to  either  of  his  immediate  or  any 
of  his  more  remote  ancestors. 

He  was  exhibited  by  his  owner,  as  a  three-year-old,  at  the  New  York 
State  Fair.  The  other  most  noted  son  of  Abdallah — Roe's  Abdallah 
Chief — was  also  exhibited,  and  taken  to  the  Union  Course,  on  Long 
Island,  for  a  trial  of  speed — Hambletonian,  the  three-year-old,  against 
the  four- year-old  in-bred,  and,  I  may  say,  richly-bred  son  of  the  same 
sire.  The  trial  resulted  in  favor  of  Hambletonian — the  time  beino^ 
about  3:03.  Abdallah  Chief  being  given  another  trial  alone,  made 
his  mile  in  2:55|-.  Hambletonian  then  went  a  second  trial,  this  time 
alone,  and  made  it  in  2 :48.  This  is  the  account  said  to  have  been 
given  by  the  owners  of  both  horses,  and  is  regarded  as  authentic. 

In  his  morning  exercise  ii:i  later  years,  say  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he 
has  been  driven  by  a  gentleman  well  known  to  the  public,  in  about 
2:40;  and  this  gentleman,  who  has  had  better  opportunities  of  knowing 
the  trotting  capacity  of  Hambletonian  than  any  other  person  now  living, 
assures  me  that  he  was  a  horse  of  great  speed  and  power,  and  capable 
of  going  very  fast,  even  as  we  regard  speed  in  our  day.  It  must  be 
conceded  that  a  horse  that  could  trot  in  2:48  at  three  years  old,  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  having  fixed  and  positive  opinions  against  training  or 
trotting  a  young  stallion,  and  that  could,  after  a  life  of  severe  and 
•excessive  stallion-service,  and  without  special  training  for  the  purpose, 
show  a  mile  in  2 :45,  or  even  trot  at  a  2 :40  gait  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
is  in  all  respects  an  extraordinary  animal,  even  in  our  day.  And  such^ 
truly ^  was  Hambletonian. 

And  how  are  we  to  regard  him  in  the  light  of  results  of  his  produce 
in  the  various  combinations  with  the  blood  of  the  prominent  families 
of  our  day  and  those  anterior  to  him?  The  Messenger  and  Abdallah 
trotters  of  the  period  cotemporary  with  Abdallah,  were  2:40  horses 
— usually  trotting  in  the  forties,  some  in  the  thirties.  The  Bellfounders 
were  about  the  same.  The  Stars,  a  more  recent  family,  with  the 
advance  of  skill  in  training,  were  also  about  a  2:40  family;  some  of 
the  best  of  them  trotting^  in  the  thirties,  but  not  manv. 

The  trottins:  horse  of  to-dav — the  combined  Abdallah-Bellfounder 
— is  a  horse  of  the  teens:  Goldsmith  Maid,  2:14;  Dexter,  2:17^; 
01oster,2:17;  Bodine,  2:19i;  St.  Julien,  2:22^;  Gazelle,  2:21;  Fuller- 


ABDALLAH.  175 

ton,  2:18  ;  Mountain  Boy,  2:20f  ;    Jay  Gould,    2:2U  ;    Nettie,  2:18; 

Startle, ^     Joe  Elliot,  a   trotter  equal  in  merits,   perhaps  to   the 

best,  and  if  left  as  a  stallion  would,  in  my  opinion,  have  probably  stood 
as  a  bright  star  in  the  firmament. 

It  may  be  useful  here  to  inquire,  in  what  instance  has  the  blood  of 
either  of  these  families,  alone  and  unmixed  by  the  other,  accomplished 
such  results?  Where  has  Abdallah,  unaided  by  the  Bellfounder  cross^ 
a  single  descendant  that  ever  trotted  below  2:20?  Where  has  Amor- 
ican  Star  more  than  a  single  son  that  has  ever  produced  a  trotter  equal  to 
2:22?  And  where  has  the  combined  Star  and  Messenger  of  any  branch 
attained  a  speed  of  2:20,  except  in  close  connection  with  the  Bell- 
founder  cross?  This  Star  blood,  indeed,  would  have  little  ground  to 
stand  upon  as  a  fast  trotting  family  deprived  of  the  fame  they  have 
attained  through  the  produce  of  Hambletonian;  nor,  it  is  true,  can 
any  such  supei'iority  be  claimed  for  the  Bellfounder  blood  unaided 
by  that  of  Messenger.  It  is  the  combination,  in  proper  relation 
and  degree,  that  gives  the  greatest  exhibited  superiority. 

If  such  be  the  progress  attained  by  the  magical  combination  of 
these  famous  and  all-powerful  bloods,  what  shall  be  the  lesson  drawn 
from  the  results  with  regard  to  the  future  employment  and  preservation 
of  all  the  essential  ingredients  that  entered  into  our  past  successes? 
If  neither  of  these  elements,  separate  and  alone,  would  have  led  us- 
to  our  present  grand  eminence  in  breeding,  and  we  have  attained 
that  point  only  as  the  result  of  the  magical  combination,  what  shall 
be  the  consequence  if,  disregarding  the  lessons  of  both  the  past  and 
the  present,  we  choose  to  discard  one  star  of  the  grand  constellation? 
We  can  accomplish  this  end,  whether  desirable  or  undesirable,  in 
several  ways.  We  can  do  it  by — so  far  as  possible  in  our  breeding- 
eflPorts — selecting  our  crosses  in  such  manner  as  to  weaken  that  blood 
which  is  the  least  powerful,  either  from  arithmetical  proportion  or 
secondary  stamina,  by  crossing  toward  that  element  which,  in  the 
given  combination,  preponderates  over  it,  either  in  quantity  or  force, 
thus  diluting  its  quality  and  controlling  power;  or  we  can  do  it  by  so 
breeding  that  it  shall  encounter  elements  uncongenial  to  itself,  and 
thus,  from  its  own  lack  of  sympathy  or  affinity,  compel  it  to  stand  an 
obstinate  and  imyielding  element  in  the  way  of  all  fusing  or  affiliation 
between  the  various  elements  that  enter  into  the  combination.  We 
have  already  treated  this  Bellfounder  element  in  each  of  these  ways^ 
and  the  result  should  teach  \is  one  important  lesson  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  we  may  derive  the  greatest  profit  from  its  superior  qualities, 
or  otherwise  lose  them  altogether. 


17G  nAMBLETONIAN. 

It  has  been  a  fact  which  can  scarcely  have  escaped  the  observation 
of  every  intelligont  breeder,  that  Hambletonian  was  not  a  success 
■with  thoroughbred  mares.  Those  most  familiar  with  the  get  of  this 
horse,  and  particularly  his  late  owner,  it  is  said,  have  uniformly 
•observed  that  he  was  an  absolute  faikn-e  with  such  mares,  although 
no  one  can  say  he  was  not  a  highly-bred  horse.  I  know  it  has  been 
•claimed  that  one  of  his  sons,  most  distinguished  as  a  trotter  and  a  sire 
of  trotters,  is  from  a  thoroughbred  mare.  The  horse  to  which  I  refer 
— Edward  Everett — is  one  in  which  the  Bellfounder  blood  has  had 
full  scope,  and  a  large  share  in  the  composition,  and  he  is  much  too 
good  a  horse,  in  my  opinion,  ever  to  have  been  produced  by  Hamble- 
tonian from  a  strictly  thoroughbred  mare.  As  I  shall  give  all  of  these 
prominent  sons  of  Hambletonian  full  and  separate  consideration,  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  limited  or  concluded  by  the  casual  reference  here 
made;  nor  do  I  wish  it  understood  that  I  enter,  by  such  opinions  thus 
exj^ressed,  into  the  arena  of  any  controversy  concerning  pedigrees.  I 
give  my  opinions  simply  in  the  light  of  my  understanding  of  the  oper- 
ation of  one  blood  upon  another.  But  to  return.  I  may  say  that 
Hambletonian  has  had  many  very  su])erior  mares — some  very  fast 
ones,  trotters,  and  those  coming  from  racing  families — yet  he  has  failed 
to  produce  horses  of  even  respectable  trotting  action  from  many  of 
them.  It  is  my  opinion  that  he  has  not  been  so  universally  success- 
ful with  all  clases  of  mares  as  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay  Jr.,  and  far  behind 
Almont  and  Mambrino  Patchen  and  others  of  that  family.  A  close 
study  of  the  characteristics  of  the  produce  wherein  he  has  failed,  "will 
go  far  to  show  that  it  was  in  combination  when  this  same  Bellfounder 
-element  remained  neutral,  and  was  not  called  out  or  utilized.  A  sim- 
ilar lesson  may  be  drawn  from  cases  where  he  has  even  attained  his 
greatest  success. 

A  stallion — either  racer  or  trotter — often  produces  his  greatest  per- 
former from  an  outcross  which,  while  not  so  remote  as  to  possess  no 
breeding  affinity  for  the  original  type,  yet  introduces  elements  so 
foreign  as  to  render  the  animal  thus  produced  (great  performer  though 
he  be)  of  no  value  as  a  reproducer — like  the  great  Plenipotentiary,  a 
performer  on  the  turf  with  no  equal  in  his  day,  but  as  a  sire  a  failure 
BO  great  that  he  is  sometimes  called  the  poorest  son  of  the  greatest 
€ire.  The  American  Star  family  was  made  up  almost  precisely  like 
American  Eclipse,  Post  Boy,  BKxcher,  Patriot,  and  several  other  fami- 
lies— a  combination  mainly  of  the  blood  of  the  two  families  of  Diomed 
and  Messenger.     But  similarity  of  blood  does  not  always  follow  simi- 


ABDALLAH.  177 

larity  of  pedigroe;  and  this  is  the  common  error  of  many  who  reckon 
on  the  superiority  of  a  given  animal  l^ecause  he  contains  so  great  a 
number  of  crosses  of  families  all  proven  by  their  known  excellence  of 
blood,  not  counting  on  the  possible,  or  even  very  probable,  chance  of 
that  blood  working  differently  in  different  combinations.  The  Star 
blood  has  at  all  times  worked  well  in  its  further  commingling  with  the 
Messenger  strains;  and  in  the  produce  of  Hambletonian  from  Star 
mares,  it  has  eclipsed  all  its  previous  renown  as  performers  on  the 
trotting  course.  But  the  effect  of  this  all-powerful  combination  on 
the  struggling  Bellfounder  element  is  quite  visible.  While  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Bellfoimder  blood  is  apparent  in  the  performances  of 
Dexter,  Startle,  Socrates,  Jay  Gould,  Aberdeen,  Micawber,  and  Hunt- 
ress, it  is  also  clear,  from  the  change  of  form,  that  the  two  all-powerful 
elements  of  Messenger  and  Diomed  are  obtaining  a  j^hysiological  as 
well  as  an  arithmetical  supremacy,  and  if  in  the  next  generation  the 
Dexters,  the  Startles,  the  Jay  Goulds,  and  even  the  Huntresses  fall 
behind  those  of  this  generation,  the  astute  breeder  may  discover  the 
cause  in  the  overpowering  of  the  ever-vital  and  ever-magical,  but 
overmatched,  Bellfounder  element.  The  equilibrium  of  the  best  piece 
of  mechanism  can  be  disturbed,  and  so  can  the  best-poised  blood 
forces  in  breeding. 

I  will  again  refrain  from  entering  the  domain  of  prophecy,  but  will 
venture  the  suggestion  that  the  present  and  the  past  will  justify  me 
in  saying  that  the  most  successful  sires  produced  by  Hambletonian 
are  and  have  been  those  in  which  the  force  and  effect  of  the  Bell- 
founder blood  has  been  most  apparent,  and  where  its  harmonious 
union  with  that  of  Messenger  has  been  the  least  disturbed.  If  I  am 
asked  to  name  them,  I  will  say  that  they  will  be  found  in  the  follow- 
ing list:  Alexander's  Abdallah,  Administrator,  Duke  of  Brunswick, 
Edward  Everett,  Florida,  Happy  Medium,  Knickerbocker,  Electioneer, 
Middletown,  Volunteer,  George  Wilkes,  Cuyler,  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  , 

Bear  in  mind  that  I  here  refer  to  the  possession  of  the  trotting 
quality,  and  the  ability  to  transmit  the  same.  The  above  animals  all 
have  their  individual  peculiarities,  some  of  them  perhaps  have  serious 
defects,  which  would  exclude  them  from  my  choice  as  breeding  stal- 
lions; but  I  here  speak  of  them  only  in  the  one  aspect  of  possessing 
the  trotting  quality,  and  their  ability  to  transmit  the  same.  As  I  shall 
treat  of  each  and  all  of  these  at  the  proper  place,  and  give  my  opinions 
freely  and  fully,  I  wish  it  understood  that  I  reserve  that  place  for  my 
full  estimate  of  the  qualities  and  value  of  each. 


178 


HAMBLETONIAN". 


I  here  insert  a  table,  which  will  show  the  extent  of  the  services  of 
this  remarkable  sire,  and  which  illustrates  better  than  anything  else 


the  vigor  of  his  constitution. 


FOALS    DROPPED    TO    HAMBLETONIAN    SINCE    HE    "WAS    TWO    YEARS 

OF  AGE. 


Tears. 

1851 

1853 

1853 

1854 5  years 

1855 6  years 


No.  Mares 
Received. 


Age. 

2  year; 4 

3  years 17 

4  years 101 

88 

89 


1856 7  years 87 

1857 8  years 87 

1858 9  years 72 

1859 10  years 95 

18G0 11  years 106 

1861 12  years 98 

1862 13  years 158 

1863 14  years  150 

1864 15  years 217 

1865 16  years 193 

1866 17  years 105 

1867 18  years 73 

1868 19  years 

1869 20  years 


None  (sick). 


Charije  for 
Services. 

. . .  Free . . . 


25. 
35. 
35. 
35. 
35. 


1870. 


1871 22  years. 

1872 23  years. 


22. 

21  years 22. 

30. 

30. 


35. 

35. 

35. 

35. 

75. 
100. 
300. 
500. 
500. 

500. 
500. 
500. 
500. 


No.  Foal& 
Dropped. 

a 

13 

78 

62 

64 

64 

63 

54 

66 

72 

68 

Ill 

92 

148 

128 

75 

42 


18 
16 
26 
24 


Totals 1,843 


1,287 


For  the  years  1873,  1874  and  1875  he  was  limited,  as  before,  to 
thirty  mares,  at  $500,  and  the  number  of  applications  was  nearly 
one  hundred  for  each  of  those  years.  His  services  for  1875  were  not 
very  successful;  but  prior  to  that  year  the  record  shows  that  he  pro- 
duced foals  in  the  ratio  of  abo\it  69  per  cent,  of  the  mares  received. 
From  this  it  will  appear  that  his  foals  number  about  thirteen  hundred 
and  twenty-five. 

I  have  seen  the  estimate,  that  a  larger  percentage  of  his  foals  were 
males  than  females ;  but  assuming  that  he  had  700  sons,  how  small  a 
proportion  of  them  have  proved  themselves  successful  sires  of  trotters? 
Not  four  out  of  each  hundred  of  his  sons  have  been  found  to  have 
produced  a  trotter  capable  of  trotting  in  2:30, 


ABDALLAH.  179 

In  estimating  his  value  as  a  sire,  in  view  of  this  disparaging  ratio, 
we  must  bear  in  mind  several  facts,  among  which  must  be  the  random 
method  in  which  mares  have  been  selected  for  his  service.  He  had 
some  superior  mares,  and  many  very  valuable  ones  that  were  ill  suited  to 
him  as  a  sire.  The  philosophy  of  his  make-up  was  little  understood 
and  less  studied  even  by  those  who  j^atronized  his  services.  Many 
were  sent  to  him  as  matters  of  experimenting,  that  were  even  unworthy 
of  a  trial,  but  their  supposed  fitness  secured  them  a  place.  In  looking 
over  the  list,  I  am  compelled  to  dissent  from  the  view  of  many  who 
should  be  regarded  as  the  best  of  authorities. 

It  will  be  found  that  he  did  best  succeed  with  highly-bred  mares, 
made  up  of  part-bred  and  good  road  stock,  having  a  strong,  ])ut 
not  an  overpowering  infusion  of  Messenger  blood.  The  part-bred 
mares,  coming  from  crosses  of  Messenger,  Trustee,  American  Eclijise, 
Duroc,  Henry,  May  Day,  Liberty,  Bolivar,  Blucher,  Patriot,  American 
Star,  were  those  in  which  he  showed  his  chief  superiority.  But  it  was 
those  that  had  these  crosses,  and  not  the  strong  and  positive  whole 
bloods — ^not  the  deeply  in-bred  Messenger,  never  the  strictly  thorough- 
bred— the  philosophy  of  which  fact  must  be  apparent  to  every  reader 
of  the  principles  to  which  we  have  previously  adverted. 

The  following  list,  which  has  been  taken  from  a  2:30  list  to  the  close 
of  the  year  1877,  will  show  the  standing  of  the  family  of  Hamble- 

tonian  by  the  record: 

No.  Performers.  Heats.  Time. 

Hambletonian 27  344  2:ll^i 

Abdiillah  (Alexander's)  son  of  Hambletonian 5  351  2:14 

Abdallah  (Goldsmith's)  son  of  Volunteer 1  1  2 :30 

Abadallah  Pilot,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah 1  2  2:28 

Almont,    son    of                     "                    "         3  7  2:25 

Belmont,        "                           "                    "         3  35  2:23i^ 

Billy  Denton,  son  of  Hambletonian 1  5  2 :28 

Chosroes,              "                    "            . . ., 1  2  2:29 

Delmonico,  son  of  Guy  Miller 1  3  2 :25 

Edward  Everett,  sou  of  Hambletonian 6  176  2 :18 

George  Wilkes,         "                 "            2  74  2 :21 

Gideon,                        "                  "             1  6  2:28^ 

Hambletonian  (Curtis')  son  of  "            2  5  2 :25i^ 

Hambletonian  (Sackett's)    "     "            1  16  2 :24 

Hambletonian  (Whipple's)  son  of  Guy  MilliT 6  21  2:26}^ 

Hambletonian  fVVood's)  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah  4  31  2:23 

Happy  Medium,  son  of  Hambletonian 3  7  2 :27 

Independent,              "                 "            1  1  2 :299i 

Carried  forward 69       1,087 


180  IIAMBLETONIAX. 

No.  Performers.  Heats  Time. 

Brought  forward 09  1,087 

Iron  Duke,  sou  of  HambJetuuian, 1  y  3:21 

Jay  Gould,      "                 "              1  3-  2:28>^ 

Ledger,  son  of  Robert  Bonner 1  G  2 :2o}£ 

Logan,  (Gage's)  sf)u  of  Ilambletonian 1  1  2 :28:^;^ 

Lysander,                 "                 ••            1  IG  2 :23    • 

Middletown,             "                 "            2  24  2 :21i^ 

Peacemaker,            "                 "            1  2  2 :22i4 

Reporter,                   "                 "            1  1  2 :28 

Robert  Bonner,       "                 "            1  2  2 :28 

Samson,                    "                 "            1  1  2 :29 

Seneca  Chief,           "                 "            1  10  2 :26 

Sentinel,                   "                 "            3  17  2 :26 

Speculation,              "                  "             1  16  2 :23 

Stephen  A.Douglas,"                 "            3  19  2 :23 

Tramp,  son  of  Gage's  Logan 1  10  2 :25 

Volunteer,  son  of  Hambletouiau 16  300  2 :17 

Wallkill  Chief,  son  of      "            3  46  2 :19 

Young  Volunteer,  son  of  Volunteer 1  6  2:27 

Totals ; 109        1,576 

The  above  list  shows  27  performers  produced  by  Hambletonian 
himself,  with  344  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  a  time  record  of  2:17^^. 
For  the  entire  family  descended  from  him  in  the  direct  or  male  line, 
it  shows  a  list  of  109  performers,  with  1,576  heats,  in  2:30  or  better, 
and  the  lowest  record  yet  obtained  by  any  trotter,  2:14.  In  this 
list  I  have  not  included  Rarus,  althouo-h  the  known  facts  point  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  sire  was  a  son  of  Hambletonian,  but  it  is  not  cer- 
tainly known.  He  has  a  record  of  2:16,  and  106  heats  in  2:30  or 
better,  prior  to  the  close  of  1877,  and  is  now  in  the  midst  of  a  career 
that  promises  to  rival  that  of  Goldsmith  Maid.  Her  record  stands  at 
2:14,  with  332  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  The  sum  total  is  truly  a  won- 
derful one  to  have  resulted  from  a 'horse  that  has  so  recently  closed 
his  career. 

Having  given,  thus  full,  the  history  and  estimate  of  this  great 
trotting  sire,  as  I  gather  the  same  from  the  facts  that  have  been 
brought  witliin  my  reach,  I  leave  him;  his  record  belongs  to  liistory, 
but  his  value  to  the  breeding  interest  of  this  country  belongs  both  to 
the  present  and  the  hereafter;  and  in  gently  dismissing  him,  we  may 
well  inquire  if  he  has  left  any  son  or  sons  that  will  maintain  the  high 
distinction  that  has  been  accorded  to  him,  or  that  will  add  to  the  renown 
and  the  fame  of  the  Hambletonian  family. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VOLUNTEER. 

This  distinguished  son  of  Hambletonian  was  foaled  on  the  1st  day 
of  May,  1854,  and  is  consequently  now  near  the  full  age  of  twenty- 
four  years.  He  was  bred  by  Joseph  Hetzel,  of  Florida,  Orange  county. 
New  York,  and  was  by  him  sold  to  R.  C.  Underhill,  of  Brooklyn,  in 
the  fall  of  1858,  who  held  him  for  nearly  fovir  years,  and  then  passed 
him  to  the  ownership  and  possession  of  Alden  Goldsmith,  of  Orange 
county,  who  has  kept  him  for  a  period  of  nearly  sixteen  years  past. 
This  horse  is  one  well  worthy  of  our  careful  study  in  relation  to  the 
mere  question  of  breeding,  and  without  any  regard  to  his  own  merits, 
or  demerits,  be  they  great  or  small.  He  is  very  like  Hambletonian, 
and  has  more  of  the  essential  and  distinctive  iDoints  which  make  up 
Hambletonian  than  any  of  his  sons  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Again,  in 
some  resjiects,  he  is  positively  and  clearly  unlike  him,  and  in  all  these 
respects,  or  points  of  ditference,  the  distinguishing  features  follow 
Volunteer  in  all  his  produce  with  an  absolute  uniformity  scarcely  to 
be  found  in  any  family — not  even  in  that  of  HamVjletonian  himself — 
and  extend  also  to  the  produce  of  daughters  of  Volunteer  by  other 
stallions.  The  Volunteer  type  follows  them,  and  this  fact  points  with 
unerring  certainty  to  the  powerful  and  controlling  agency  of  the  blood 
of  some  animal  in  the  past,  which  exerts  to  this  date  such  an  impor- 
tant influence.  The  force  and  quality  of  this  blood  agency,  wherever 
it  may  have  existed,  is  found  in  having  in  Vokinteer  preserved  so 
much  of  that  outward  form  of  Bellfounder  in  the  composition  of 
Hambletonian,  too-ether  with  so  manv  of  the  traits  or  characteristics 
of  the  Bellfounder  blood,  and  blending  the  same,  both  as  to  form  and 
character,  with  so  many  traits  of  the  thoroughbred  or  race-horse. 

Nowhere  has  Hambletonian,  in  his  own  sons,  approached  so  near 
the  type  of  a  great  race-horse,  or  strictly  thoroughbred,  as  in  Volun- 
teer, and  rarely  has  he,  at  the  same  time,  retained  more  of  the  essen- 

(181) 


182  VOLUNTEER. 

tial  points  of  form  and  temper  of  the  Beilfounder  trotter.  There  has 
never  been  any  difficulty  in  crossing-  the  Messenger  blood  u])on  other 
thoroughbred  stock.  Messenger's  ricliest  qualities  were  displa^-ed  in 
the  readiness  -v^nth  which  he  imparted  his  great  and  controlling  char- 
acteristics alike  to  the  produce  of  the  best  road  stock  and  the  highest 
type  of  the  thoroughbred.  In  American  Eclipse,  Medoc,  Monmouth 
Eclipse  and  Post  Boy  we  have  his  highest  excellence  and  greatest 
superiority  manifested  in  combination  with  the  blood  of  Duroc  and 
Expedition. 

But  the  Beilfounder  and  the  thoroughbred  or  racing  families,  in 
blood,  form  and  temper,  were  not  calculated  to  blend  or  cross  well 
together.  Nevertheless,  in  Volunteer  the  union  has  been  comj^lete. 
Volunteer  has  the  massive  Beilfounder  shoulder,  long  body,  round 
barrel  and  heavy  quarters  of  Hambletonian  in  proportion  and  at  every 
part.  His  back  is  a  little  shorter,  as  his  shoulder  is  a  little  more  slop- 
ing. His  shoulder  is  heavy  and  extends  forward,  as  it  does  in  no 
other  except  Hambletonian.  His  rump,  like  Hambletonian's,  is  one 
inch  higher  than  his  withers,  and  in  his  measxxrement  from  hip  to  stifle, 
and  from  each  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  he  is  very  much  like  his  sire, 
but  not  quite  so  large.  The  lines  H^  G^  F,  respectively  as  follows: 
JI — 17,  G — 27,  F — 22,  show  his  comparative  size  in  that  quartei'. 
He  stands  03  inches  at  the  withers,  and  64  at  the  rump.  His  length 
of  body,  as  compared  with  other  Hambletonians,  is  as  follows:  He  is 
•67  inches  in  length,  while  Aberdeen  is  (Sq^  Wilkins  Micawber  65,  Jay 
Oould  64,  Thorndale  66,  Electioneer  64,  Ellwood6T,  Messenger  Duroc 
C7,  Everett  64.  Hopeful,  a  long-appearing  horse,  is  64;  Orient  62, 
and  Sensation  is  61.  Volunteer's  back  is  28  inches,  his  neck  is  36, 
and  his  windpipe  20,  showing  a  neck,  above  and  below,  4  inches 
ioncer  than  his  sire's.  His  girth  at  the  throttle  is  33  inches.  His 
neck,  the  long,  slender  and  gracefully-curved  neck  of  the  thorough- 
bred; a  full,  flowing  mane,  foretop  and  tail;  a  large  horse,  weighing 
1,200  lbs.,  on  short  but  very  fine  and  blood-like  limbs,  as  fine  as  Sir 
Arehy  or  Eclipse  ever  bore;  feet  not  large,  but  good  size,  spreading 
from  the  coronet  downward,  and  open  at  the  heel — an  outline  which 
gives  some  idea  of  the  two  blood  forces  that  have  so  quietly  and  so 
liarmoiliously  blended  in  his  outward  conformation.  In  the  head  and 
face,  however — in  the  brain  he  carries,  and  in  the  nerve  power  he 
displays — are  found  the  chief  qualities  that  stamp  character  on  the 
horse.  His  head  is  unlike  that  of  Hambletonian,  and  not  similar  to 
the  idea  we  have  of  Beilfounder.     His  face  and  broad  forehead  are 


A   BLOOD   HORSE.  183 

•doubtless  more  like  the  latter;  his  ear  is  like  his  sire;  his  eye  is  not 
an  Abdallah  eye,  yet  a  full,  placid  and  quiet  eye — until  he  is  led  out, 
and  then  it  is  anything  but  quiet.  In  his  box-stall  he  is  very  kind 
and  docile,  obedient  to  the  word  of  command  of  his  keeper,  and  can 
be  moved  about  from  place  to  place  and  inspected  without  a  hand 
touching  him,  a  simple  word  being  sufficient.  But  lead  him  out  and 
the  aspect  is  changed.  No  effort  of  the  pen  can  delineate  the  flash- 
ing eye,  the  curving  neck,  the  whole  frame  swelling  with  the  nervous 
•energy  which  he  then  presents.  I  confess  that  my  feeling  was  one  of 
mingled  hope  and  fear  with  reference  to  the  ability  of  man  and  rein 
"to  hold  the  pent-up  fire  that  seemed  roused  to  such  a  sudden  exhibi- 
tion. Never  could  Grey  Eagle,  when  brought  out  for  his  famous 
contest  with  Wagner,  have  shown  more  of  the  royal  blood  of  the  great 
race-horse  in  form  or  temper  than  did  this  twenty-two-year-old  son  of 
Hambletonian  when  led  out  of  his  box  on  a  cold  day  in  January.  As 
to  his  perfect  health  and  soundness  of  limb  and  joint,  all  that  has 
been  said  of  Hambletonian  will  apply  to  him — he  is  without  a  blem- 
ish. His  limbs,  joints  and  tendons  at  this  day  show  a  fineness  of 
quality,  a  perfection  of  all  that  pertains  to  health,  that  can  not  be  sur- 
passed by  anything  found  in  any  family  I  ever  examined.. 

He  has  the  one  quality  for  which  the  Abdallah  and  Bellfounder 
families,  in  their  pure  state,  when  unaffected  by  unsound  crosses, 
always  show — that  overpowering  element  of  health  of  blood,  fibre, 
muscle,  tendon,  and  joint,  that  keeps  out  disease,  that  endures  friction, 
and  even  the  wear  and  tear  of  hard  usage,  and  yet  resists  the  inroads 
and  ravages  of  infirmity  or  decay,  and  almost  triumphs  over  time 
itself.  He  has  a  quality  of  cellular  tissue  that  does  not  irritate  and 
inflame  by  friction  or  use,  and  his  synovial  fluids  are  all  absorbed  and 
-taken  up  by  natural  processes,  without  resort  to  any  of  the  unnatural 
aids  of  firing  or  blistering;  hence  there  is  no  tendency  to  curbs  or 
spavins  in  the  family,  the  cause  and  the  philosophy  of  which  are  plain 
to  any  intelligent  student  of  physiology. 

In  color,  the  Volunteer  family  follow  the  example  of  his  sire,  and 
choose  the  Bellfounder  type — all  bays  or  browns,  and  no  chestnuts. 
In  regard  to  the  matter  of  gait,  or  way  of  going,  it  is  difficult  to  say 
whether  Abdallah  or  Bellfounder  has  had  the  absolute  or  greater  con- 
trol, as  a  new  element  has  come  in  that  has  had  the  effect  in  great 
part  of  modifjdng  and  controlling  both  the  blood  forces  of  Abdallah 
and  Bellfounder.  But  it  must  be  kept  clear  that  in  this  I  only  speak 
AS  to  the  manner  or  way  of  going,  not  the  essential  nerve  element 


184  VOLUNTEER. 

derived  from  the  breeding  itself  which  constitutes  the  animal  a  trotter. 


r 


or  a  galloper,  or  neither.  While  the  outward  form  and  way  of  going- 
may  indicate  Abdallali  in  one  instance  and  Bellfounder  in  many 
others,  the  blood  forces  of  both  are  there  present  in  full  union  and 
perfect  harmony.  In  point  of  that  which  we  call  trotting  qualiti/y 
Abdallah  had  no  trait  or  nerve  force  that  is  not  present  in  full  force 
in  Volunteer,  while  Bellfounder  is  displayed  in  every  impulse  or 
motion.  The  vital  blood  forces  of  each  are  there  in  all  that  enters, 
into  his  character  as  a  trotter.  He  is  none  of  your  trotting  thorovigh- 
breds,  that  have  acquired  the  art  from  some  assiduous  and  careful 
teacher,  but  he  is  a  trotter  by  nature,  from  blood  and  inheritance. 

Nevertheless,  as  to  the  matter  of  gait,  the  Volunteers  do  not  trot 
precisely  after  the  Abdallah  pattern,  nor  do  they  exactly  follow  the 
Bellfounder  way  of  going,  and  yet  they  all,  with  wonderful  uniformity^ 
follow  their  own,  the  Volunteer  model.  If  I  am  asked  why  this  is  so^ 
I  answer  that,  as  I  have  already  in  part  shown,  this  matter  of  gait 
or  way  of  going  is  largely  affected  by  anatomical  construction — a 
matter  of  conformation  of  certain  parts,  and  their  relation  to  each 
other — and  in  this  particular  the  Volunteer  family  afford  one  of  the- 
best  illustrations  to  be  found  anywhere. 

Let  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  Hambletonian  family  have,  as  might 
be  expected,  a  distinctive  type,  as  shown  in  their  points  of  measure- 
ment, to  which  they  adhere  with  great  uniformity — subject,  however, 
to  sub-family  types,  which,  while  following  in  great  part  the  one  orig- 
inal of  Hambletonian,  have  also  their  peculiarities.  This  is  the  case 
with  the  Everetts,  and  all  of  the  Star  cross,  as  will  be  shown  when  we 
come  to  them,  but  for  the  present,  we  have  a  family  sufficiently 
marked,  and  at  the  same  time  sufficiently  uniform,  for  the  purposes  of 
very  clear  and  explicit  demonstration. 

It  has  been  alleged  against  the  Volunteers  that  they  lack  in  knee- 
action;  also,  that  their  knee-action  is  defective.  One  gentleman  has 
it,  a  "  thoroughbred  way  of  handling  their  forelegs,  a  friction,  which 
undoubtedly  comes  from  Volunteer's  dam,"  etc.,  etc.  V^^'ithout  stop- 
ping to  consider  where  it  comes  from,  I  Avill  say  that  the  Volunteers 
have  not  necessarily  a  lack  of  knee-action,  nor  a  defective  knee-action^ 
They  have  enough  of  it  for  their  purposes,  and  hence,  if  it  suits  them» 
it  is  of  the  right  kind.  The  error  comes  from  the  writer  not  under- 
standing that  the  Volunteers  require  less  of  what  to  him  is  apparent 
— visible  knee-action — than  any  family,  perhaps,  which  he  has  seen. 
They  are   longer  in  the  forearm,  and  correspondingly  shorter  in  the 


CONFORMATION   COMPARED.  185 

front  cannon-bone,  than  any  other  family.  Hence,  they  reach  their 
feet  further-out  with  a  given  elevation  of  the  knee,  and  consequently 
with  less  apparent  bending  of  the  joint  than  some  of  their  cousins  in  the 
Hambletonian  blood,  who,  from  the  very  shortness  of  their  forearms,  are 
compelled  to  lift  their  knees  very  high  to  get  their  forefeet  forward, 
and  out  of  the  way  of  the  hind  ones.  These  fellows  make  great 
show  of  trotting;  that  is,  they  show  superior  knee-action,  according- 
to  this  gentleman's  way  of  putting  it;  but  while  they  are  lifting  their 
knees  so  high,  the  Volunteers  are  showing  their  heels  in  the  fast 
increasing  distance.  The  one  lift  their  knees  very  high;  the  other 
trot  very  fast — that  is  exactly  the  difference.  Hambletonian,  in  hia 
forearm,  is  20^  inches,  and  11^  in  his  front  cannon-bone,  while  Volun- 
teer is  21  inches  in  forearm,  and  11^  in  his  cannon-bone,  and  Wildfire,, 
a  large  son  of  Volunteer,  is  21  and  11;  Huntress,  20  and  lOf ;  Sister,. 
19f  and  10^;  Annie  G,  20  and  10|^;  and  a  large  mare  by  Volunteer, 
dam  by  Everett,  2d  dam  by  Harry  Clay,  is  21  and  11.  I  examined 
carefulh',  at  different  places,  above  twenty  of  the  produce  of  Volun- 
teer, and  found  that  they  uniformly  showed  a  short  cannon-bone  and 
a  long  forearm.  Hence,  when  they  trot,  they  go  with  a  low,  easy  and 
far-reaching  gait,  not  appearing  to  go  fast — but  the  record  and  appear- 
ances do  not  agree.  A  trotting  horse  may  not  differ  from  another  one- 
half  of  an  inch  in  his  height  or  the  length  of  his  forelegs,  but  if  he 
differs  from  the  other  one-half  of  an  inch  in  the  relative  length  of  his 
cannon-bone  and  his  forearm,  it  will  make  a  very  perceptible  difference 
in  the  trotting  gait  of  the  two  animals. 

From  the  centre  of  the  hip  to  the  point  of  the  hock.  Volunteer  is- 
40  inches;  from  the  point  of  stifle  to  the  point  of  hock — length  of 
thigh — he  is  24,  and  from  point  of  hock  to  the  centre  of  ankle  joint 
he  is  17  inches.  He  is  also  25  inches  across  the  loin  from  hip  to  hip,  one 
inch  larger  than  Hambletonian  in  his  width  across  the  loin  or  through 
the  hips,  but  not  so  large  according  to  the  side  view,  or  measurement 
of  the  hindquarters.  His  family  run  in  the  same  proportion  with  great 
uniformity,  the  large  ones  a  little  longer  and  the  smaller  a  little- 
shorter  in  each  part,  but  with  very  uniform  proj^ortion,  more  so  than 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  Hambletonian,  so  far  as  they  have  come 
under  my  observation  in  like  numbers.  They  run  39^ — 23^  behind, 
20  and  lOf  in  front,  for  length  of  limb,  and  24  inches  across  loin  from 
hip  to  hip.  The  only  two  material  variations  from  this  scale  were  the 
stallion  Wildfire,  whose  dam  was  by  Morse  Morgan,  son  of  Morse 
Horse,  sire  of  Norman,  and  the  cross  was  apparent   in   the   length  of 


186  VOLUNTEER. 

thigh,  24  inches,  and  41  from  hip  to  hock,  which  gives  him  more  of 
the  open  gait  and  higher  hock  action  than  the  residue  of  the  family. 
The  other  variation  Avas  the  large  mare,  dam  by  Everett,  2d  dam  by 
Harry  Clay,  This  mare  has  a  riieasurement  of  41.^,  25,  17,  and  26 
inches  across  the  loins  from  hip  to  hip.  Her  Harry  Clay  or  extra  Bell- 
founder  cross  gives  her  the  long  limb  and  the  wide  gait  and  far- 
reaching  stride.  These  two  will  probably  trot  with  hind  feet  wider 
apart  than  any  of  the  Volunteers  I  have  inspected,  and  the  reason  of 
the  departure  is  apparent,  although  the  difference  is  more  in  the  size 
of  the  animals  than  in  their  relative  proportions;  hence,  the  differ- 
ence in  gait  as  a  whole  will  be  very  slight.  The  Volunteer  character- 
istics will  predominate. 

Since  inspecting  the  above,  I  have  seen  Bodine — 15.24^  hands  high. 
He  is  41 — 24^  in  rear  measurement,  and  11^  and  214-  in  front.  The 
majority  of  those  I  have  inspected  are  horses  under  15.3.  One  mare 
that  is  sixteen  hands,  measured  40  and  24,  precisely  as  Volunteer 
does,  and  I  think  that  such  would  be  the  usual  proportions.  This  one 
was  11  and  21^  on  her  forelegs.  I  have  not  found  a  Volunteer  of 
any  size  that  was  12  inches  in  the  front  cannon,  although  I  find  many 
horses  12  inches  there  that  are  not  over  15.2  in  height. 

I  may  say  that  the  Volunteer  family  do  not  display  what  is  called 
wide,  open  action  behind,  and  yet  they  do  not  trot  close.  There  is 
not  a  sprawler  among  them,  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  complain  of 
interference.  Their  action  is  not  so  close  as  to  be  objectionable,  but 
true  and  even,  and  quite  uniform. 

The  Volunteers  are  not  an  early  family.  This  will  probably  account 
for  what  we  sometimes  hear  of  the  difficulty  of  breaking  them,  and 
the  wi'iter  above  referred  to  speaks  of  a  great  friend  of  Volunteer,  who 
has  broken  and  handled  many  colts,  and  who  said  he  would  rather 
break  four  of  the  get  of  any  other  son  of  Hambletonian  than  one 
Volunteer.  There  is  probably  something  in  this,  and  probably  more 
in  knowing  jvist  how  they  should  be  handled.  That  many  have  been 
spoiled  by  not  thoroughly  understanding  their  high  temper,  and  by 
the  effort  to  make  them  trot  fast  before  they  were  ready,  is  probably 
only  too  true.  Some  things  are  certain  about  them.  They  do  not  get 
ready  to  trot  fast  as  early  as  some  other  families  of  Hambletonians, 
and  thev  will  not  allow  the  impatient  drivers  and  breakers  to  urge 
.  them  by  the  use  of  the  whip,  as  is  sometimes  done,  and  as  can  be 
done  with  others. 

The    man    who  would    bring    out  a  Volunteer    colt    with    success 


TEMPERAMENT.  187 

must  at  all  times  treat  him  with  great  kindness  and  perfect  gentle- 
ness. They  have  a  spirit  and  a  temper  that  will  not  allow  any- 
other  treatment.  It  is  pretty  well  understood  that  they  have  a  hot 
spot  somewhere,  and  it  is  a  peculiarity  of  temperament  that  comes 
from  some  source  a  long  way  back,  and  adheres  to  the  family  even  in 
the  more  remote  descendants.  They  must  not  and  can  not  safely  be 
urged  or  asked  for  speed  until  they  are  perfectly  mature  and  ready — say 
at  about  the  age  of  six  years — when,  if  they  have  been  properly 
jogged  and  gentled  until  that  time,  and  taught  to  foot  or  trot  in  the 
right  fashion  they  will  show  their  speed,  and  plenty  of  it.  That  they 
will  last  in  the  race,  and  from  year  to  year,  there  can  be  no  reason  to 
doubt.      They  are  a  whalebone  family,  and  bottom  to  the  last. 

In  former  years,  when  it  was  common,  if  not  popular,  in  Orange 
county  to  express  disapproval  or  fault  with  Volunteer,  it  was  often 
said  that  he  was  too  high  in  temper,  had  a  "  disagreeable  and  head- 
strong disposition,"  and  "  the  wildness  and  great  deficiency  in  mental 
balance  most  of  them  show  make  it  very  uncertain  what  to  breed  ta 
him,"  and  "  too  wild  and  foolish  to  be  counted  on  as  producing  any 
but  a  very  small  proportion  of  trotters.'''' 

This  same  writer  says  that  "  the  Volunteers  are  generally  good- 
sized,  handsome  horses,  showing  more  of  the  Bellfounder  than  the 
Messenger,"  and  this  last  expression  I  quote  because  of  its  correct- 
ness, that  I  may  not  be  said  to  deal  only  in  such  statements  of  this 
very  intelligent  gentleman  as  have  been  already  overturned  as 
unsound.  Volunteer  and  his  family  are  noted  for  a  temper  and 
nervous  organization  of  the  very  highest  order,  and  higher,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  son  of  Hambletonian  that  has  attained  any  distinction, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  this  trait  is  coujjled  with  intelligence  and 
docility  of  the  highest  order.  They  require  a  firm  hand,  but  a  kind 
and  intelligent  one;  and  instead  of  lacking  in  brain  power,  they  have 
that  quality  to  a  degree  that  has  told  in  many  a  hotly-contested  race, 
that  mental  or  nervous  force  of  wall  that  goes  to  the  end  conqueror  or 
dies  in  the  attempt,  but  in  their  case  generally  coupled  with  the 
physical  stamina  and  speed  to  get  there  aHve,  and  ready  for  many- 
more. 

A  few  facts  in  the  history  of  this  horse  will  set  his  qualities  in  their 
proper  light.  He  went  out  of  the  hands  of  his  breeder  at  four  and  a 
half  years  of  age,  after  he  had  won  the  premium  given  for  stallions  in 
Orange  county,  which  he  did  with  grace  and  ease,  passing  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Underbill  before  he  had  arrived  at  years  of  maturity. 


ISS  VOLU:^TEER. 

He  was  not  handlerl  with  proper  care  nor  understanding  for  the  next 
four  years,  and  was  consequently  nearly  spoiled,  for  trotting  purposes, 
although  possessed  of  great  speed.  He  was  bought  by  his  present 
owner  on  the  26th  of  June,  1802.  While  in  the  possession  of  his 
breeder,  Mr.  Hetzel,  he  was  stinted  to  a  few  mares,  and  got  about  a 
•dozen  colts  out  of  this  number.  His  present  o^\'ner,  about  the  time 
that  he  bought  the  sire,  bought  four  of  his  colts;  three  of  the  four 
became  so  well  known  and  popular  in  horse  circles  as  to  need  only  a 
mention  in  this  article,  viz.:  Mr.  Thome's  Hamlet,  who  has  twice 
•secured  the  first  prize  at  New  York  State  Fair,  and  the  first  prize  at 
the  National  Horse  Exhibition  held  at  Narragansett  Park,  in  the  fall 
■of  1868,  where  he  trotted  a  full  mile  direct  from  the  stud  in  2:30;  and 
Matchless,  who  was  also  awarded  first  prize  at  the  same  exhibition,  for 
the  finest  and  best  gentleman's  road  horse,  and  was  driven  a  full  mile 
by  his  owner  after\vard  in  2:30,  to  a  150  lb.  wagon,  on  Prospect  Park 
track.  The  third  of  the  trio,  Idler,  a  horse  of  wonderful  speed  and 
promise,  met  with  an  accident  which  eventually  caused  his  death. 
Volunteer's  next  appearance  at  the  county  fair  at  Goshen  was  during 
the  fall  of  1862.  The  track  at  Goshen  had  just  been  altered  from  a 
third  of  a  mile  to  a  half-mile  track,  and  was  in  very  bad  condition. 
His  competitors  were  Winfield,  Grey  Confidence,  and  several  other, 
good  ones.  Each  horse  was  timed  by  himself.  Volunteer  won  again 
in  two  straight  heats,  without  a  break,  trotting  to  a  wagon  in  2:36, 
and  beating  all  his  competitors  by  nine  seconds.  But  his  being  virtually 
removed  from  the  stud  for  four  years  made  a  wide  gap  in  the  produce 
of  his  stock  to  be  bridged  over. 

On  his  return  to  Orange  county,  an  opposition  was  made  to  him  on 
the  part  of  the  owner  and  friends  of  Hambletonian  that  greatly  limited 
him,  and  almost  exckided  him  from  service  as  a  stallion.  It  was  just 
■at  the  time  when  Hambletonian  was  attaining  great  fame;  and  as 
Volunteer  could  not  be  assailed  on  the  ground  of  his  having  an  unfit 
•sire,  his  dam  was  made  the  object  of  obloquy  and  reproach  rarely 
heaped  upon  the  head  of  one  female  of  the  equine  race.  Owing  to 
the  limited  service  brought  to  him,  and  the  tardiness  of  his  offspring 
in  showing  the  trotting  quality,  he  did  not  begin  to  rally  from  the 
"burden  of  unpopularity  and  abuse  which  had  been  lavished  upon  him 
until  about  the  date  of  the  article  above  quoted.  In  that  same  article, 
the  writer  who  seemed  to  entertain  such  a  midnight  estimate  of 
Volunteer,  heralded  the  dawn  of  day  in  the  following  inadvertent 
words: 


THE   RISING    STAR.  189 

All  of  his  get,  with  the  exception  of  the  stallion  Hamlet,  who  can  beat  2:30 
-considerably,  that  have  any  public  reputation,  gained  it  this  season,  and  are, 
I  think,  all  of,  the  same  age — six, years.  They  are:  the  stallion  W.  H.  Allen, 
•one  of  the  very  best  young  horses  that  ever  apjieared,  said  to  be  out  of  an 
Abdallah  mare ;  Huntress,  out  of  a  very  fine  Star  mare ;  and  Bodine,  out  of  a 
very  coarse  mare  by  Harry  Clay.  The  two  former  seem  bound  to  become 
great  horses,  but  though  Bodine  has  plenty  of  speed,  it  is  probable  that  the 
day  blood  in  him  will  prevent  his  ever  being  very  usefitl  to  his  owner. 

So  much  for  that  unfortunate  Clay  blood,  though  it  might  have 
been  a  relief  to  the  mind  of  the  writer  to  have  assured  him  that  this 
Clay  blood  had  a  cross  of  Bellfounder  just  back  of  it  that  would  make 
this  same  Bodine  worth  nearly  $15,000  to  his  owner  in  a  single  year, 
and  have  plenty  in  him  for  many  another.  Such  was  the  announce- 
ment made  in  1870.  In  18T1,  W.  H.  Allen  trotted  nine  consecutive 
heats,  all  of  which  were  in  2:34  and  under,  and  the  fastest  was  won 
hy  himself  in  2:27.  He  trotted,  during  the  same  season,  twenty-four 
heats,  and  reached  a  record  of  2:25^.  During  the  same  year  Bodine 
marked  2:305^,  and  Huntress  marked  2:26^.  During  the  year 
1872,  Abdallah,  a  son  of  Volunteer,  trotted  in  2:3G:|^,  during  the  sea- 
son of  stallion  service ;  the  trotting  wonder  Gloster  came  to  the  front, 
trotting  twenty-four  heats,  and  marking  a  record  of  2:27^,  and  Hun- 
tress covered  the  family  with  a  fame  that  has  not  and  vnll  not  soon  be 
eclipsed  by  her  celebrated  three-mile  performance  against  the  time  of 
the  famous  Duchman,  which  had  often  been  attempted  by  many  of 
the  great  trotters  of  the  period,  but  without  success  for  thirty-three 
3'ears.  Duchman's  time  for  three  miles  was  7:324^,  and  Huntress 
made  it  in  7:21^,  beating  the  hitherto  unapproached  record  eleven  and 
a  quarter  seconds,  and  placing  the  mark  where  it  will  not  be  likely  to 
be  again  disturbed  for  another  quarter  of  a  century.  During  the 
same  year,  the  mare  Mary  A.  Whitney  reached  a  record  of  2:32^,  and 
Wm.  H.  Allen  reached  2:2.3+.  The  roll  thus  beffinnina:  to  unfold 
soon  grew  in  fame  and  brilliancy,  until  the  following,  taken  from  the 
/Spirit  of  the  Times  for  September,  1875,  announced  the  position  of 
Volunteer: 

It  is  as  a  sire  of  trotters  that  Volunteer  stands  pre-eminent.  If  we  take  the 
records  of  horses  that  have  beaten  2 :35  as  a  test  of  the  highest  order  of  excel- 
lence among  trotters,  there  is  no  stallion  in  the  world  that  has  excelled  him, 
and  only  one — his  own  sire — has  equaled  him.  Each  of  these  illustrious  sires 
can  boast  of  eight  of  his  get  that  have  beaten  2:25  in  a  public  race;  and  as 
Volunteer  is  five  years  the  younger  of  the  two,  if  we  judge  solely  by  the  rec- 
ords of  first-class  performers,  he  is  entitled  to  rank  much  above  the  Old  Horse 
as  a  sire  of  trotters.    The  great  excellence  of  the  get  of  Volunteer  has  not 


190  VOLUNTEER. 

been  appreciated  until  within  the  past  three  years,  as  up  to  that  time  but  one* 
of  them  had  made  a  record  below  2:30;  but  the  great  performance  of  Hunt- 
ress, when,  three  years  ago,  she  beat  Dutchman's  fsimous  three-mile  perform- 
ance, which  had  stood  the  wonder  of  the  world  for  thirty-three  years,  opened 
the  eyes  of  the  public  to  the  merits  of  Volunteer  as  a  sire,  and  since  then  the- 
Volunteers  have  been  flashing  out  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  trot- 
ting firmament.  "We  have  Gloster,  who  has  often  been  called  the  most 
wonderful  trotter  the  world  has  ever  produced,  who  made  such  a  brilliant 
campaign  last  year,  ending  with  a  record  of  2:17;  Bodine,  the  "Whirlwind 
of  the  West,"  with  a  record  of  2:19i4^;  Huntress,  with  her  unparalleled  record 
of  three  miles  in  7:213^,  and  a  mile  in  2:22%\  St.  Julien,  the  great  six-year- 
old,  that  this  season,  with  only  three  months'  training,  has  Avon  six  races  in; 
three  weeks,  scoring  a  record  of  2:22^^,  and  demonstrating  his  ability  to  trot 
in  2:18;  Amy,  another  of  the  year's  bright  stars,  with  a  record  of  2:223^;  and 
Carrie,  yet  another  one  of  the  season's  luminaries,  with  2 :24i^  to  her  credit ;; 
r.nd  then  the  great  stallion  W.  H.  Allen,  with  2 :2334^ ;  and  Frank  Wood,  with 
2 :24 ;  and  Sister  (full  sister  to  Huntress),  that,  only  taken  up  from  the  pasture' 
last  June,  was  at  St.  Julien's  throat-latch  in  2 :23i^,  at  Hartford.  All  these,, 
brought  out  within  the  short  space  of  three  years,  proclaim  Volunteer's  pre- 
eminent merits  as  a  sire  of  trotters — not  passably  fair  trotters,  but  trotters  of 
the  very  highest  stamp — in  tones  that  can  not  be  mistaken,  and  which  will  not 
longer  pass  unheeded  by  breeders.  The  bringing  out  of  four  such  performers 
as  St.  Julien,  Amy,  Carrie  and  Sister  in  one  year,  is  alone  enough  to  establish 
the  reputation  of  Volunteer  as  a  great  sire ;  but  when  it  comes  backed  up  by- 
the  performances  of  the  others  above  named,  in  the  2:25  class,  and  with  Cali- 
fornia Dexter,  record  2 :27 ;  Mary  A.  Whitney,  2 :28 ;  and  Goldsmith's  Abdallah 
(killed  last  spring  at  Cynthiana),  2 :30,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  his  rank- 
ing first  among  the  sons  of  Rysdyk's  Hambletonian ;  and  when  we  make 
allowance  for  the  difl^erence  in  age,  there  are  many  who  claim  that  he  deserves 
to  rank  even  higher  than  his  illustrious  sire,  as  a  getter  of  trotters.  There 
may  be  those  coming  after  him,  younger  in  j'-ears,  that  may  wrest  his  honors 
from  him,  but,  at  present,  his  claim  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  trotting 
sires  can  only  be  disputed  by  his  own  famous  progenitor.  His  fame  is  one  of 
which  all  lovers  of  trotting  horses  may  well  be  proud,  and  should  be  especially- 
gratifying  to  the  admirers  of  this  family. 

The  following  Volunteer  exhibit,  recently  published,  shows  the- 
standing  of  the  family  in  the  spring  of  1878: 

Gloster 2 :17  Alley 2 :24 

Bodine .2:1914  Carrie 2 :24i^ 

Huntress 2  -.20%  Driver 2 :25 

Powers 2 :21  V£  Huntress  (3  miles) 7  :21  i^ 

Amy 2 :22i^  California  De.xter 2 :27 

St.  Julien.  . . ; 2:22i^  Lady  Morriscm 2:27>i 

W.  H.  Allen 2:23i4-  Mary  A.  Whitney 2:28 

Trio 2:231^  Goldsmith's  Abdallah 2:30 

Frank  Wood  2 :24  Sister 2 :3034 


A   SIRE   OF   TROTTERS.  191 

Ristori 2:31i^  Nelly  MaUison 2:35 

Volney. 2M  Fanny  Osborn '. .  .2:;35 

Harry  B...... 2:34  Volunteer  Maid 2:36 

Sterling 2:34  Hamlet  (to  wagon) .2:37 

Mary  Lamb 2:34  Pelham-.... ....2:37. 

Matchless "2:31 

In  reaching  a  true  estimate  of  the  real  greatness  of  Volunteer  as  a 
sire,  we  must  compare  him  with  his  own  imperial  sire,  Hambletonian,, 
the  only  name  that  can  approach  him.  Hambletonian  closed  his. 
career,  and  left  a  record  of  about  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty-five- 
foals,  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  of  which  number  were  produced 
before  he  was  eleven  years  old;  and  of  his  whole  number  he  has  a 
record  of  2:30  and  better  for  twenty-seven,  which  is  one  for  each 
forty-eight;  and  a  record  of  2:25  and  better  for  ten,  which  is  one  for- 
cach  one  hundred  and  thirty. 

Volunteer,  April  1,  1865,  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  had,  as  I  am- 
informed,  only  about  eighteen  foals.  He  has  now  probably  over  four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  to  this  date ;  but  putting  the  number  at  five 
hundred,  he  has  twenty-eight  performers  with  a  record  of  2:40  or  bet- 
ter, which  is  one  out  of  each  eighteen;  sixteen  with  a  record  of  2:30  or 
better,  which  is  one  for  each  thirty-one;  and  twelve  with  a  record  of 
2:25  or  better,  which  is  one  for  each  forty-one.  This  ratio  places  hirui 
far  ahead  of  Hambletonian,  or  any  other  stallion  we  have  ever  pro- 
duced, as  the  sire  of  fast  trotters. 

This  leaves  Volunteer  a  far  greater  proportion,  while  the  produce- 
of  Hambletonian  have  nearly  all  now  come  to  maturity,  and  it  is  not 
probable  that  over  three-fourths  of  the  produce  of  Volunteer  are  old 
enough  to  make  their  appearance  on  the  public  courses.  Moreover,, 
it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  for  the  first  fifteen  years  of  his  life  Volun- 
teer's popularity  was  not  such  as  to  bring  him  the  best  class  of  mares,, 
while  Hambletonian  at  all  times  had  the  best  that  could  be  selected. 
But  for  certainty  of  trotting  speed,  Hambletonian,  great  as  he  was,, 
did  not  equal  in  uniformity  the  success  of  Volunteer. 

In  view  of  this  marvelous  showing,  I  may  well  ask  if  the  day- 
has  not  arrived  for  the  reversal  of  the  judgment  of  those  who  were  so- 
ready  to  assert  that  he  could  not  "  be  counted  on  as  producing  any 
hut  a  small  proportion  of  trotters.'''' 

The    one    noticeable  feature  about  the  fast  trotters  of  this  family  is 
the  apparent  lateness  or  tardiness  of  their  coming  out,  and  the  sudden- 
ness of  their  advent.     St.  Julien  was  bought  for  $G00,  and  at  the  end 
13 


192  VOLUNTEKR. 

of  a  little  over  one  year  had  shown  a  record  of  2:22^,  and  an  ability  to 
go,  as  stated  above,  equal  to  2:18,  had  won  about  %8,000  in  public 
purses,  and  sold  for  $20,000 — and  this  in  close  proximity  to  that  same 
Clav  cross  of  which  the  writer  first  above  noticed  made  such  doleful 
lament. 

It  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  breeding  of  "Volunteer,  which  has 
placed  him  thus  in  the  front  rank  of  American  trotting  stallions,  at  an 
age  and  in  a  degree  of  health  and  vitality  which  gives  promise  that 
as  a  sire  of  great  trotters  he  may  attain  a  rank  and  a  fame  as  far  in 
advance  of  the  past,  and  as  unapproachable  in  the  present  or  future, 
as  has  been  scored  by  his  daughter  Huntress,  in  her  crowning  per- 
formance of  three  miles  in  7:21^. 

I^et  me  recur  to  an  observation  which  was  made  in  a  previous  ]iart  of 
this  sketch,  that  Volunteer  was  more  like  his  sire,  and  more  of  a  Bell- 
founder  than  any  other  well  known  son  of  Hambletonian,  and  that, 
at  the  same  time,  he  was  nearer  the  true  type  of  a  genuine  thorough- 
bred race-horse.  Also,  recurring  to  a  proposition  heretofore  advanced, 
and  which  will  be  conceded  by  every  intelligent  observer,  I  think, 
that  Hambletonian  has  not  crossed  well  with  any  thoroughbred  mare. 
Bv  what  jarocess  of  blood  combination,  then,  has  this  result  been 
attained,  which  is  so  worthy  of  observation  and  so  clearly  manifest  in 
the  character  and  qualities  displayed  by  Volunteer,  and  so  uniformly 
transmitted  to  his  family?  It  was  the  old-time  accusation  urged 
against  Volunteer,  that  his  dam  was  the  controlling  element  in  his 
comi)Osition.  Such  was  the  burden  of  an  opposition  that  cast  a  moun- 
tain of  prejudice  in  the  course  of  this  horse  during  ten  years  of  the 
early  part  of  his  life.  After  a  close  and  thorough  study  of  Volunteer 
and  his.  family,  and  of  his  dam  and  her  produce  by  several  other  stal- 
lions, I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  charge  was  well  founded, 
and  that  the  facts  of  history,  as  they  exist  to-day,  establish  the  truth 
of  the  accusation. 

Before  entering  upon  a  consideration  of  the  history  and  blood  qual- 
ities of  the  dam  of  Volunteer,  let  me  ask,  in  the  light  of  his  own  char- 
acter as  herein  set  forth,  what  kind  of  a  mare  could,  from  Hamble- 
tonian as  a  sire,  have  produced  such  a  son?  From  the  stand  of  intelli- 
gent breeding  philosophy,  I  answer,  she  could  not  have  been  a  strictly 
thoroughbred  mare.  No  such  mare  could  have  drawn  from  Hamble- 
tonian so  many  of  the  traits  and  qualities  of  the  Bellfounder  blood, 
so  marked  and  fixed  in  its  type,  as  are  seen  in  Volunteer.  Furthermore, 
she  could  not  have  been  a  mare  of  an  overpowering  or  greatly  pre- 


LADY   PATRIOT.  193 

ponderating  share  of  Messenger  blood.  Such  a  mare  would  have  pro- 
duced a  son  with  a  preponderating  share  of  Messenger  characteristics, 
one  that  was  coarser  in  his  outline  and  heavier  in  bone,  with  more  of 
the  positive  peculiarities  of  the  Abdallah  cross.  Moreover,  she  could 
not  have  been  a  mare  entirely  lacking  in  or  destitute  of  Messenger 
blood.  No  mare  without  a  fair  admixture  of  the  blood  of  Messenger, 
well  blending  with  that  of  Duroc  or  other  thoroughbred  crosses,  could 
have  reached,  drawn  out  and  preserved  the  commingled  strains  of  Mes- 
senger and  Bellfounder  in  Hambletonian,  and  presented  each  of  the 
same  so  perfect  and  so  much  in  harmony  one  with  the  other.  This  could 
scarcely  have  been  accomplished  without  some  element  of  this  magical 
and  powerful  Messenger  blood,  the  one  great  peculiarity  of  which  is 
its  ready  ability  to  fuse  with  any  and  all  bloods,  and  to  draw  out  and 
present  ready  for  use  all  the  good  qualities  of  any  other  element  with 
which  it  may  be  combined.  But  above  all,  the  dam  of  Volunteer 
could  not  have  been  a  low-bred  animal.  That  is  so  apparent  as  to 
require  no  demonstration.  That  slender  neck,  those  blood-like  limbs, 
and  that  general  form  so  near  the  type  of  thoroughbred,  could  not  have 
<;ome  from  any  but  a  mare  nearly  thoroughbred,  and  of  great  and 
passing  positiveness  in  her  blood  characteristics — one  of  marked  dis- 
tinctive individuality. 

The  dam  of  Volunteer  was  a  bay  mare,  foaled  May  1,  1850,  and 
lived  until  July,  1876.  She  produced  this  distinguished  stallion  on 
the  dav  she  was  four  vears  old.  The  followino-  is  the  record  of  her 
produce: 

1854 — b.  c.  Volunteer by  Hambletonian. 

1855— b.  c.  Hetzel's  Hambletonian by  Hambletonian. 

1857 — b.  f.  (dead) by  Hambletonian. 

1860 — b.  c.  Green's  Hambletonian by  Hambletonian. 

1863 — br.  f.  Heroine by  Hambletonian. 

1863 — b.  c.  Sentinel by  Hambletonian. 

1864— b.  c.  (dead) by  Ashland. 

1866— ch.  f.  Evelina by  Ashland. 

1867 — ch.  c.  Barbecue by  Surplus. 

1868 — b.  c.  Barbarian by  Surplus. 

1869— b.  c.  Crusader by  Mambrunello. 

1870— b.  f.  Thorndale  Belle by  Thorndale. 

1871 — ch.  c.  Sharpshooter by  Thorndale. 

1872 — b.  c.  Marksman by  Thorndale. 

1873— b.  c.  Patriot by  Thorndale. 

Of  the  above  number  the  reader  does  not  require  to  be  reminded 
of  the  stallion  Sentinel,  that  went  to  Kentucky  and  died  there  from 


194  •     VOLUNTEER. 

'some  unknown  cause.     I  saw  him  in  October,  18^3,  after  a  large  sea- 
son's service^  trot  on  the  Lexington  track  in  2:29f.     Hardly  a  stallion 
in  the  country,  doing  •  the  same  service,  could  have  equaled  the  per- 
formance.    In  1874,  the  old  mare  slipped  a  foal  by  Thorndale,  soon 
after  became  sway-backed,  and  failed  to  breed  since  that  date,  but 
retained  the  most  perfect  health,  and,  for  a  mare  twenty- six  years  old 
that  had  raised  such  a  numerous  oiFspring,  was,  in  March,  1876,  a  mar- 
vel of  vigor  and  constitutional  soundness.     She  died  in  July  of  that 
year.     She   was  bred  by  John  Cape,  of  Orange  county,  and  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Joseph  Hetzel,  the  breeder  of  Volunteer,  and  was 
by  him  sold  to  David  Seely,  and  by  him  to  Strong  Y.  Satterlee,  and 
then  to  Wm.  M.  Rysdyk,  and  was  purchased  by  Mr.  EdwinThorne 
through  a  friend.     Mr.  Thorne  still  ovpns  a  number  of  her  produce.    Mr, 
Satterlee  paid  $125  for  her,  and  Mr.  Rysdyk  paid  |200  for  her,  desir- 
ing her  for  a  brood  mare,  although  she  had  been  injured  in  one  of  her 
'  shoulders  by  accident.     After  he  had  sold  her,  and  when  her  three 
sons,  Volunteer,  Hetzel's  and  Green's  Hambletonian,  were  attracting^ 
notice,  Mr.  Rysdyk  made  the  following  contribution  to  the  war  upon 
Volunteer  by  way  of  a  note  to  the  gentleman  who  had  bought  her  for 
Mr.  Thorne: 

You  are  surprised  to  hear  me  pronounce  the  dam  of  Volunteer  a  dunghill., 
I  bought  her  for  a  dunghill,  and  I  sold  her  for  a  dunghill,  and  I  know  she  is 
a  dunghill ;  and  that  is  not  all — she  is  the  most  worthless  piece  of  horseflesh 
that.  I  ever  owned. 

which  was  not  much  of  a  recommendation  for  Volunteer  as  a.  compet- 
itor of  the  greatest  trotting  stallion  this  country  has  yet  produced. 

Nothing  whatever  was  ever  known  of  the  blood  of  the  dam  of  this- 
mare.  She  was  a  mahogany  bay  mare,  brought  by  Lewis  Hulse  from 
Rockland  county,  which  adjoins  Orange,  and  was  both  a  running  and 
trotting  mare,  and  as  such,  was  held  out  under  a  challenge  to  run  or 
trot  against  anything  that  could  be  led  into  the  county.  I  have  seen 
the  statement  that  she  was  held  as  a  standing  challenge  to  run  against 
any  horse,  and  then  to  trot  against  the  same  one.  This  scrap  of  history, 
though  brief,  casts  much  light  on  the  character  and  qualities  of  the 
dam  of  the  mare  now  under  consideration,  and  from  this  and  the 
locality  whence  she  came,  some  inference  may  be  drawn  concerning 
her  probable  blood.  It  was  the  region  where  the  blood  of  the  two 
•  families  of  Messenger  and  Diomed,  through  Duroc,  Henry,  and 
Eclipse,  was  the  chief  element  in  running  and  trotting  circles.  This- 
mare  was  stinted   by  John  Cape,  of  Orange  county,  to  a  horse  called 


YOUNG   PATRIOT.  195 

Young  Patriot,  that  was  brought  into  that  county  by  parties  who 
stated  that  he  came  from  Oneida  county,  and  that  he  was  by  Patriot, 
son  of  Blucher,  and  his  dam  by  Messenger  Duroc.  The  produce  was 
this  mare.  Lady  Patriot,  dam  of  Volunteer.  This  horse,  Young 
Patriot,  was  in  Orange  county  during  1849,  and  for  that  year  only, 
and  Mr.  Rysdyk  regarded  him  good  enough  for  the  Charles  Kent 
mare,  as  she  was  sent  to  him  that  year  and  produced  a  filly.  The 
followinsr  is  an  extract  from  the  advertisement  of  Youno-  Patriot  for 
1849: 

Yowng  Patriot  was  by  Old  Patriot ;  Old  Patriot  by  the  celebrated  horse, 
Blucher.  The  mare  from  which  Young  Patriot  was  got  was  from  the  cele- 
brated horse,  Messenger  Duroc,  who  was  by  old  Eclipse. 

It  is  also  therein  said  that  in  movement — speed  in  trotting — and 
appearance,  he  would  not  suifer  in  comparison  with  any  horse  in  the 
State.  This  is  about  all  that  can  be  ascertained  with  any  degree  of 
certainty  regarding  the  sire  of  the  dam  of  Volunteer,  Lady  Patriot,  as 
she  has  been  called  in  late  years. 

Blucher  was  a  thoroughbred  by  Duroc;  dam,  Young  Damsel  by 
Hambletonian,  son  of  Messenger;  3d  dam,  Miller's  Damsel  by  Mes- 
senger, and  she  was  dam  of  American  Eclipse.  So  that  it  will  be 
seen  Blucher  was  in  blood  much  like  Eclipse,  only  having  another 
cross  of  Messenger,  his  dam  being  an  in-bred  granddaughter  of  Mes- 
senger. We  have  no  account  of  any  Messenger  Duroc  by  Eclipse, 
hence  that  part  of  the  pedigree  goes  for  nothing.  Had  this  horse. 
Patriot,  been  raised  in  Orange  or  Duchess  counties,  something  would 
have  been  known  of  him.  The  stock  was  known  in  both  Oneida  and 
Chemung  counties  (distant  counties),  and  very  little  can  be  gathered 
except  that  he  was  probably  a  running  and  trotting  part-bred  horse, 
very  nearly  thoroughbred,  aiad  made  up  of  the  then  popular  bloods  of 
that  section — that  of  Messenger  and  Duroc  in  the  foreground,  and 
■extendino-  to  other  thorouo-hbred  lines  further  back. 

It  is  probable  that  the  dam  of  Lady  Patriot,  from  her  character  and 
the  locality  from  which  she  came,  was  similarly  bred,  and  that  she  had 
some  Messenger  and  not  above  one  or  two  Duroc  crosses.  The 
character  given  to  the  Hulse  mare,  and  the  locality  in  which  she  was 
found,  warrant  the  belief  that  she  was  a  mare  of  very  high  breeding, 
and  her  trotting  quality  also  warrants  the  conclusion  that  she  had  some 
•of  the  blood  of  Messenger,  as  that  was  the  trotting  blood  of  that 
■quarter.  The  hot  spot  in  the  head  of  the  family  probably  came  from 
iher.     It  was  a  well  known  characteristic  of  Lady  Patriot,  and  as  this 


196  VOLUNTEER. 

is  not  a  feature  of  the  Duroc- Messenger  blood  the  inference  is  pretty- 
strong  that  it  came  from  the  other  mare.  It  is  a  well  understood  fact, 
that  the  family  of  Volunteer  are  not  very  cool  or  dull  in  that  part  of 
their  organism. 

Lady  Patriot  had  not  much  of  the  Duroc  appearance,  although  at 
three  years  old  she  had  a  Duroc  certificate  in  the  shape  of  a  pufF  on 
the  side  of  the  hock  which  became  a  running  sore,  and  was  assigned  as 
the  cause  for  breedino-  instead  of  breaking:  her  at  that  a^e.  None  of 
her  produce  have  ever  shown  any  defect  in  the  hock,  and  the  Volun- 
teer family  have  clean,  well-shaped  hocks,  which  shows  that  the  Duroc 
blood  had  no  control  in  her  composition,  although  her  measurement  of 
24  inches  in  the  length  of  her  thigh,  and  the  long  thigh  of  Volunteer, 
would  gently  point  to  Duroc,  as  will  clearly  appear  by  reference  to 
that  part  of  Chapter  V  which  gives  an  account  of  Duroc. 

I  have  inspected  the  old  mare,  and  several  of  her  produce  at  Mr.. 
Thome's,  including  several  in  the  second  generation  by  different  sires, 
among  them  Heroine  by  Hambletonian,  Marksman,  Patriot,  Sharp- 
shooter, and  Barbecue — a  chestnut  mare  by  Thorndale  from  Heroine, 
and  others,  and  I  find  the  old  mare  possessed  and  has  transmitted  uni- 
formly to  her  descendants,  the  peculiarity  of  measurement  displayed  by 
Volunteer  and  his  family.  Her  front  cannon-bone  was  10^  and  her  fore- 
arm 21.  She  was  38^  from  hip  to  hock,  and  24  in  length  of  thigh. 
Her  neck  was  36  inches,  and  her  windpipe  22,  from  Avhich  the  increased 
length  of  neck  in  Volunteer  is  apparent.  Her  colts  by  Thorndale  bear 
a  most  striking  resemblance  to  Volunteer  and  his  produce.  Marksman, 
at  four  years  of  age,  was  pronounced  the  exact  likeness  of  Volun- 
teer at  the  same  age.  I  will  say  that  I  have  never  inspected  a. 
family  of  horses — including  the  produce  of  Volunteer,  about  forty  in 
number — in  which  I  have  discovered  such  uniform  adherence  to  cer- 
tain peculiarities,  all  tracing  to  one  mare.  It  makes  no  difference 
what  the  character  or  class  of  the  sire — whether  it  be  Hambletonian, 
or  the  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief,  Ashland  and  Mambrunello,  or  Surplus, 
or  Thorndale,  all  widely  different — the  old  mare  asserts  her  absolute 
supremacy.  Amazonia,  in  the  produce  of  Abdallah,  displays  less 
individuality,  and  there  is  less  uniformity  in  the  descendants  of 
Abdallah  than  there  is  likely  to  be  in  those  of  this  Patriot  marc. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  her  the  most  positive  and  absolute  in 
•her  physical  and  blood  characteristics  of  any  mare  I  ever  saw. 
I  do  not  believe  there  has  ever  lived  in  America  a  mare  whose 
influence  was  more  deeply  stamped  on  her  descendants,  and  likely  to 


SONS   AND   OTHER  DESCENDANTS.  197 

extend   to   such   numbers   and  for  so   many  generations,  as  this  same 
I-,ady  Patriot. 

Brilliant  will  be  the  page  of  turf  history  which,  fifty  years  hence, 
shall  record  the  prowess  and  performances  of  those  who  trace 
their  distinctive  characteristics  to  this  mare.  She  reached  the  day 
when  she  might  rightfully  bear  the  chaplet  of  oak,  and  wear  the  wreath 
of  laurel.  Having  survived  the  cares  of  a  large  family,  and  the  detrac- 
tion of  many  defamers,  she  lived  to  see  her  first-born  occupy  the 
proud  position  of  first  trotting  stallion  of  America.  Surely  this  is 
not  the  first  instance  in  which  that  which  was  rejected  and  despised 
survived  the  obloquy  and  defamation  of  hateful  prejudice,  and  lived 
to  be  assigned  the  seat  of  honor  and  renown;  and  those  who  spent  so 
many  years  in  branding  her  as  worthless,  and  consigning  her  fair 
name  to  the  place  of  the  "  rejected,"  may  yet  derive  some  satisfaction 
in  beholding  it  written  on  the  "  chief  stone  of  the  corner." 

SDKS   AND    OTHER    DESCENDANTS    OF    VOLUNTEER. 

Hamlet,  one  of  the  oldest  sons  of  Volunteer,  was  foaled  in  1859, 
and  his  dam  was  by  Hulse's  Hickory,  second  dam  by  Bay  Roman. 
He  is  a  horse  of  great  beauty  and  style — one  of  the  finest  in  form  in 
the  Hambletonian  family.  He  has  spent  several  years  in  Kentucky, 
and  has  been  regarded  as  a  fine  horse.  He  is  sire  of  a  mare  that  is 
said  to  have  trotted  in  2:25 — not  a  record. 

Wm.  H.  Allen  was  foaled  in  18G5,  and  has  a  record  of  2:23^.  His 
dam  was  the  mare  Peggy  Slender,  a  raiare  that  trotted  in  2:55.  She 
was  of  unknown  blood.  He  is  full  sister  to  the  mare  Mary  A.  Whitney, 
with  a  record  of  2:28.  He  is  undoubtedly  a  superior  horse,  and 
has  trotted  twenty-five  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  He  is  owned  in 
Connecticut. 

Goldsmith's  Abdallah  was  a  very  beautiful  and  blood-like  horse. 
His  dam  was  Martha,  by  Abdallah,  second  dam  by  a  son  of  imp. 
Bellfounder.  He  was  one  of  the  finest  representatives  of  the  Abdallah 
blood  ever  seen.  His  head  was  well  formed,  large  clear  eye,  ear  long 
and  sharp,  limbs  as  clean  and  blood-like  as  were  ever  seen  under  a 
horse — long,  slender  neck,  flat  on  the  sides,  and  very  narrow  especially 
across  the  hips  and  in  the  hindquarters.  He  had  a  fine  mane  and 
tail,  and  was  as  kind  a  horse  as  was  ever  seen  and  one  of  the  most 
intelligent.  His  keeper  could  direct  and  control  him  in  a  paddock  by 
simple  word  of  command  without  a  bridle — perfectly  obedient,  and 
apparently   comprehensive   of  every   word  of   commund      He   had  a 


198  VOLUNTEEi;. 

record  of  2:30,  and  was  killed  at  Paris,  Ky.,  by  colliding  with  John 
Bright,  his  full  brother,  while  both  were  driven  in  harness,  in  opposite 
"directions,  through  some  mishap  or  inadvertence.  Abdallah  was  much 
admired  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Youno:  Volunteer,  another  son  of  Volunteer,  is  the  sire  of  Jersey 
Boy,  a  gelding  that  in  1877  attained  a  record  of  2:27,  having  trotted 
six  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Sterling,  another  son  of  Volunteer,  has  left  some  produce  highly 
•esteemed  in  the  vicinity  of  Chicago  and  Racine.  He  is  now  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  owned  by  W.  H.  Wilson.  He  has  a  record  of  2:34.  His 
dam  was  by  Bay  Richmond. 

John  Bi-ight,  a  full  brother  to  Goldsmith's  Abdallah,  is  in  Kentucky, 
l)ut  has  not  been  in  the  stud  long  enough  to  show  any  results  that  are 
•distinctive. 

Louis  Napoleon  was  foaled  in  1866,  and  is  owned  by  Dewey  and 
Stewart,  Owosso,  Michigan.  His  dam  was  Hattie  Wood,  by  Sayer's 
Harry  Clay,  the  dam  of  Idol  and  Gazelle,  the  latter  the  second  in  speed 
■of  the  daughters  of  Hambletonian.  He  is  beyond  doubt  a  very  superior 
:stallion,  and  will  take  rank  as  one  of  the  best  of  the  Hambletonian  family. 
As  a  breeder  he  already  stands  the  first  in  his  State,  and  in  1876  at 
the  State  Horse  Breeders'  Exhibition,  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  he 
and  his  produce  were  awarded  first  premiums  over  so  great  a  stallion 
as  Mambrino  Gift.  The  published  accounts  of  his  stock  and  their 
appearance  at  that  exhibition  strongly  indicated  that  he  had  risen  to 
•distinction  as  a  sire  at  an  early  age- 
When  the  success  of  Volunteer  with  daughters  of  Harry  Clay  is 
•considered,  as  displayed  in  Bodine  and  St.  Julien,  and  the  well  known 
superiority  of  Hattie  Wood  is  also  taken  into  account,  this  horse  carries 
with  Tiini  the  promise  of  great  success  as  a  sire.  His  career  will  be 
looked  to  by  the  breeders  of  this  country  with  much  interest,  and  1 
-venture  the  prediction  that  he  takes  high  rank  as  a  trotting  stallion, 
;althougli  I  have  never  seen  him. 

GRANDSONS    OF    VOLUXTKER. 

Alexaiuler  is  a  bay  stallion,  with  wliite  heels;  foaled  1868  by  Gold- 
•smith's  Abdallah,  dam  by  the  son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher,  misnamed 
Richard's  Bellfounder;  second  dam.  Lady  May,  by  Singleton's  Cah- 
iornia  Rattler.  This  horse  is  an  elegant  roadster  and  good  producer; 
hred  by  Richard  Richards,  of  Ricuie,  Wis.,  and  is  owned  by  Messrs. 
DeGrail"  in  Miiuiesota. 


HIS   DAUGHTERS.  199 

Hickory  is  a  bay  stallion,  foaled  in  18G9,  by  Goldsmith's  Abdallah, 
dam  Dollabella,  by  the  son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher,  above  named; 
iiecond  dam  by  Farmer's  Glory,  a  Canadian;  was  bred  by  Richard 
Richards,  of  Racine,  Wis.,  and  is  owned  by  Geo.  D.  Doubleday,  of 
Whitewater,  Wis.  He  has  a  record  of  2:30,  and  has  trotted  in  2:26. 
He  is  a  good  sire. 

DAUGHTERS    OF    VOLUNTEER. 

Several  of  the  daughters  of  Volunteer  have  been  distinguished  for 
speed  on  the  trotting  turf.  One  of  them  has  produced  the  stallion 
Florida,  which  will  form  the  subject  of  a  separate  sketch,  and  will  not 
be  noticed  further  in  this  chapter. 

From  another  daughter  Hambletonian  has  left  us  the  young  stallion 
Metropolitan,  the  second  dam  being  the  dam  of  Dexter,  a  daughter 
of  American  Star,  and  the  third  dam  being  the  McKinstry  mare,  the 
dam  of  Shark,  another  distinguished  son  of  Hambletonian.  This 
horse  now  just  entering  on  his  career  as  a  stallion  will  be  looked  to 
with  much  interest  on  account  of  the  distinguished  excellence  of  so 
many  so  nearly  related  and  in  the  same  immediate  line  of  kinship.  He 
should  certainly  display  very  high  quality  as  a  member  of  the  Hamble- 
tonian family.  And  if  the  combination  should  fail  to  make  him  a  great 
reproducer,  it  will  present  an  enigma  for  the  philosophical  that  will  call 
for  an  exj^lanatiou. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

FLORIDA. 

This  horse  was  foaled  in  1867;  was  bred  by  Nathaniel  Roe,  of 
Florida,  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  by  Hanibletonian,  first  dam 
by  Volunteer.  Beyond  that,  his  pedigree  has  not  been  authenticated 
to  my  satisfaction.  The  Trotting  Register  says,  his  second  dam  was 
a  brown  mare,  of  unknown  blood,  brought  from  the  West.  I  have 
been  struck  with  the  very  great  number  of  "  brown  mares  that  come 
from  the  West  "  which  enter  into  Eastern  pedigrees.  I  have  seen  the 
certificate  of  Mr.  Roe,  the  breeder,  that  Florida's  second  dam  was  by 
the  Welling  Hambletonian;  but  all  that  I  can  say  is,  that  while  the 
Trotting  Register  is  not  infallible — the  compiler  giving  his  pedi- 
grees upon  the  best  information  he  can  obtain,  and  being  as  liable  tO' 
err  as  other  men  no  less  capable — the  certificates  of  breeders  are,  in 
many  instances,  no  more  reliable.  Mr.  Roe  has  since  had  some  mis- 
understanding with  the  present  owner  of  Florida,  and  no  information 
can  be  obtained  from  him.  The  Welling  horse  was  by  Hambletonian,. 
dam  by  Shark,  and  the  composition  of  Florida  goes  very  far  to  itidi- 
cate  strong  currents  of  just  such  blood,  which,  in  a  highly  concentrated 
form,  operate  to  stamp  a  very  positive  type  on  him  and  his  produce. 

Florida  is  a  solid  bay  horse — not  light  bay  nor  brown — with  black 
points,  and  no  white  Avhatever.  He  stands  about  15  hands  3  inches,, 
and  weighs  about  1,150  pounds;  his  head  resembles,  somewhat,  that 
of  Volunteer — not  fine,  nor  in  any  sense  coarse;  he  has  a  neck  of 
medium  length,  and  a  windpipe  18  inches,  which  is  2  inches  shorter 
than  that  of  Volunteer;  he  is  3  inches  shorter  in  length  of  body  than 
Volunteer;  has  limbs  almost  the  same  length,  the  only  difference 
being  one-half  inch  from  hip  to  hock;  he  is  39^  inches  there,  and 
24  inches  in  thigh;  11  inches  in  front  cannon,  and  21  inches  ia 
forearm.  In  the  tiiangle  of  the  hindquarters  he  differs  but  little  fron> 
Volunteer,  lieing  H  18,  F  20,  and  G  27+.     His  croup  stands  high,  and 

•(200) 


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A   BELLFOUNDER,  201 

he  is  high  at  the  whirlbone  and  straight  on  the  rump,  with  a  strong 
Hambletonian  appearance  in  his  general  form.  There  is  nothing  very- 
striking  in  the  outline  and  general  form  of  the  horse,  except  his  strong 
Hambletonian  caste  of  the  smoother  type.  He  is,  in  all  respects,  very- 
compact,  and  his  limbs  smooth  and  of  the  best  quality,  with  feet  as 
good  as  any  of  his  family.  He  has  a  good  mane  and  tail,  and  carries 
himself  in  a  quiet  and  business-like  way,  showing  no  signs  of  temper 
or  intractability.  In  general  outline  he,  perhaps,  shows  as  much  of 
the  Bellfounder  as  any  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian;  but  his  outward 
form  and  general  appearance  fall  far  short  of  portraying  the  depth  and 
positiveness  of  this  element  as  it  exists  in  this  horse.  He  is,  in  fact, 
the  living  Bellfounder  of  our  day,  and  probably,  since  the  advent  to 
our  shores  of  the  imported  Bellfounder,  we  have  had  no  representative 
of  his  real  character  and  merits  that  approaches  so  near  the  excellence 
and  true  type  of  the  original  as  this  horse  Florida.  If  there  be  any- 
other  horse  that  can  claim  to  be  the  nearest  approach  to  the  essential 
characteristics  of  Bellfounder,  it  is  the  horse  Harry  Clay,  whose  dam 
was  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Norfolk  trotter.  Many  in  this 
country  have  an  inveterate,  willfully  obstinate  prejudice  against  the 
Bellfounder  blood  and  all  that  savors  of  it  in  name  or  quality.  Some 
of  these  persons  have  had  the  means,  and  perhaps  the  capacity,  of 
knowing  better;  but  their  low  apparent  estimate  of  this  element  is 
simply  the  result  of  sheer  and  pitiable  prejudice.  Such  persons  can 
not  be  looked  to  as  those  who  will  enlighten  public  sentiment  or 
direct  uninformed  and  inquiring  minds.  Another  class,  and  a  large 
one,  noted  for  candor  and  a  disposition  to  make  honest  inquiry,  and- 
who  are  therefore  entitled  to  full  consideration,  do  not  properly  appre- 
ciate this  blood,  because  the  ideas  they  have  formed  of  it  were  de- 
rived from  a  knowledge  of  animals  that  did  not  come  up  to  the  high- 
est standard  of  excellence;  hence  they  do  not  accord  to  it  the  high 
estimate  placed  upon  it  by  those  who  knew  the  original.  The  great 
trouble  has  been,  that  the  representatives  of  Bellfounder  which  have 
come  under  their  observation  were  lacking  in  the  great  qualities  of 
tliat  distinguished  horse,  or,  if  they  possessed  them,  they  were  in  a 
latent  and  concealed  form,  and  hence  they  spoke  not  out  of  the  great 
excellence  he  possessed. 

In  the  West  the  greater  part  of  the  Bellfounder  stock  came  from 
Brown's  (or  Ohio)  Bellfounder,  a  son  of  Lady  Alport  by  Mambrino. 
Now,  it  is  a  fact,  that  neither  this  horse  nor  any  of  his  produce  dis- 
played the  great  qualities  which  distinguished  his  sire.     I  really  doubt. 


202  FLORIDA. 

whether  Hambletonian  in  himself  or  any  of  his  produce,  beyond  a 
very  small  number,  show  out  with  the  true  lustre  of  the  Bellfounder 
type;  and  in  those  cases  where  the  dams  were  mares  of  strong  Bell- 
founder  blood  I  do  not  believe  the  case  was  one  particle  improved.  It 
is  a  fact  in  breeding,  often  encountered,  that  the  union  of  two  animals, 
somewhat  unlike  in  their  composition,  results  in  a  compound  that  lacks 
the  lustre  of  both  the  originals,  and  a  near  reinforcement  of  the  blood 
of  the  given  animal  does  not  call  out  the  desii*ed  quality.  But  it  is 
there,  though  deeply  concealed,  and  in  some  remote  or  subsequent 
crosses,  when  the  neutralizing  force  is  also  impaired  and  weakened,  the 
original  elements,  long  buried  and  lost  to  view,  shine  out  in  the  rich- 
ness and  beauty  of  the  original.  I  have  studied  the  Bellfounder  char- 
acter much  and  closely,  and  have  had  some  opportunities  of  seeing 
some  of  the  bright  phases  of  its  radiance  which,  for  so  many  years  gone 
by,  has  seemed  to  charm  the  memory  of  those  who  intimately  knew 
the  old  original.  ' 

Meet  one  of  these  people — and  there  are  many  very  intelligent 
liorsemen  among  them — and  you  can  not  persuade  them  that  so  grand 
a  star  has  shone  in  the  galaxy  since  the  days  of  Bellfounder.  But  to 
my  friends  who  have  failed  to  find  such  excellence  in  the  Bellfounder 
form  and  type,  as  it  came  before  them,  I  must  say,  when  I  speak  of 
the  true  Bellfounder  character,  I  mean  something  more  than  a  bay  or 
brown  in  color,  a  good,  kind,  clever  temper,  and  the  roundabout  form 
of  that  family — I  mean  the  temperament,  nerve  force,  mental  organ- 
ism, and  all  that  enters  into  the  character  of  the  animal,  beyond  the 
phvsical,  outward  form  in  which  he  is  clothed.  I  refer  to  the  internal 
or  nervous  impulses  that  were  only  reflected  in  the  outward  actions 
and  traits  exhibited  by  the  living  and  moving  being. 

We  often  see  a  man  who,  in  stature  and  all  that  make  up  outward 
form,  shows  little  resemblance  to  his  own  father.  His  form  is  differ- 
ent; his  hair  and  eyes  another  color;  his  complexion  is  not  the  same. 
But  when  we  enter  into  conversation  with  him,  or  observe  him  in  the 
transaction  of  business,  and  behold  the  hourly  mien  and  deportment 
of  the  man,  we  see  the  traces  of  the  father  at  every  turn.  The  voice, 
the  accents,  the  nervous  flashes  and  gestures — all  that  speak  of  the 
spirit  and  temperament  within — tell  of  the  image  of  the  parent  that 
dwells  there.  I  can  speak  of  a  family  of  boys,  two  of  whom  pos- 
■sessed  characteristics  quite  unlike  the  father  or  mother.  One  of  the 
Other  sons,  and  the  one  who  most  of  all  resembled  the  father,  had  two 
flons,  one  of  them  possessing  all  the  marked  characteristics  of  the  two 


INHERITED    TRAITS.  203 

exceptional  brothers.  From  whom  did  these  two  sons  and  the  one 
grandson  derive  these  qualities  and  characteristics,  not  exhibited  by 
either  of  the  parents?  I  answer,  from  the  mother's  grandfather  on 
her  own  mother's  side  of  the  family.  I  answer  this  from  actual 
knowledge  of  the  facts;  and  it  demonstrates  that  these  qualities 
which  characterized  the  two  sons  and  one  grandson  were  possessed  by 
the  mother  and  her  own  son,  the  father  of  the  grandson;  but  they 
were  not  exhibited  by  either — they  were  latent,  or  concealed  by  other 
traits  that  shone  out  strongly  in  their  respective  characters.  They 
came  down  by  direct  line  of  inheritance,  but  were  latent,  and  did  not 
come  out  in  their  positive  manifestations  until  they  went  through  cer- 
tain changes  that  freed  or  eliminated  them  from  other  controlling  or 
neutralizing  elements,  or  until  they  met  the  exact  conditions  that  ena- 
bled them  to  show  their  own  force  and  character.  Thus  it  often  is 
with  a  trotting  horse  bred  from  two  strong  trotting  elements,  but 
somewhat  Tinlike — the  one  neutralizes  the  other,  and  the  true  charac- 
ter and  nerve  force  of  each  is  controlled,  withheld,  and  for  a  time 
suppressed  and  latent;  but  it  will  come  out  again,  either  when  it 
receives  a  proper  degree  of  reinforcement,  or  when  the  other  control- 
ling elements  pass  through  certain  changes  which  shall  enable  it  to 
come  to  the  surface.  Of  this  I  have  seen  several  clear  illustrations, 
and  shall  have  some  to  present  in  this  chapter. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  the  true  character  and  genius  of  Bell- 
founder  did  not  shine  out  in  Hambletonian.  In  the  Charles  Kent 
mare  and  Abdallah  blood,  elements  met  which  had  some  positive 
ingredients  of  dissimilarity.  Although  there  is  good  reason,  founded 
on  many  facts  that  come  to  my  mind,  for  believing  that  Bell  founder 
and  Messenger  had  a  kindred  origin,  they  had  run  in  channels  so  far 
apart  as  to  acquire  certain  diversities  of  quality,  and  their  union  in 
Hambletonian  did  not  at  the  same  time  furnish  the  conditions  to  call 
out  in  full  force  the  expressive  and  distinctive  qualities  of  each.  Both 
were  there,  but  they  could  not  both  shine  out  with  original  brilliancy. 
Subsequently,  in  Goldsmith  Maid,  the  Abdallah  blood  rose  to  its 
zenith,  and  shines  to-day  with  a  light  that  tells  us  how  much  has  long 
lain  latent  or  hidden  in  the  union  of  two  bloods,  whose  brilliancy  is 
often  concealed  by  the  very  combination  that  is  at  the  same  time 
essential  to  the  greatest  fame  and  excellence  of  each.  Thus  it  has 
been  with  this  Bellfounder  blood.  Hambletonian  was  not  a  great 
success- with  mares  strong  in  Bellfounder  blood;  but  several  of  his 
sons  have  shown  great  success   with   mares  remotely  descended  from 


S04  FLORIDA. 

Bellfounder.  The  dams  of  Bodiue,  St.  Julien,  Gazelle,  Prospero, 
Reform,  and  others  that  have  been  previously  named,  run  back  to 
Bellfounder,  and  in  their  success  testimony  is  found  to  prove  the  out- 
lasting merit  of  this  blood. 

It  is  one  of  the  noteworthy  facts  in  breeding  that  in  regard  to 
several  of  the  important  sources  from  whence  we  have  derived  our 
trotting  blood  the  original  fountain  did  not  seem  to  give  us  as  rich  and 
•beautiful  currents  as  those  that  have  sprung  from  later  or  more  diluted 
branches. 

The  native  germ  of  excellence  lay  in  the  parent  stock,  but  the  most 
excellent  manifestations  of  the  blood  are  seen  after  it  has  been  filtered 
through  other  forms  and  in  part  toned  down  or  modified  by  other  ele- 
ments. It  was  so  with  the  blood  of  Messenger.  In  itself,  while  it  had 
two  tendencies,  the  trotting  iijclinations  had  to  be  freed  in  a  measure 
from  their  native  combination  with  the  Arab  elements  that  were 
blended  with  them.  His  success  as  a  trotting  sire  is  seen  best  in  his 
more  remote  descendants,  since  the  alliance  of  his  blood  with  the 
other  trotting  elements  have  eliminated  its  real  trotting  excellence  and 
presented  the  same  ready  for  acceptable  use  in  any  combination. 

Likewise  such  was  the  case  with  Pilot  the  pacer.  His  blood  was 
•foreign  and  had  to  be  naturalized  by  a  commingling  with  that  of  the 
thoroughbred,  after  which  it  became  an  acceptable  cross  for  any  and 
all  bloods  which  had  original  consanguinity  with  or  toward  the  warm 
blooded  families.  Our  experience  wdth  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  shows 
clearly  that  in  its  original  form  as  presented  fresh  from  the  Norfolk 
trotter  it  possessed  one  element,  a  real  drug  that  did  not  fuse  readily 
in  any  combination.  He  was  not,  in  his  O'wn  immediate  efforts  in  the 
introduction  of  his  blood  on  this  Continent,  an  absolute  success. 
Tested  by  his  first  fruits,  and  the  essential  transmitting  qualities  his 
own  descendants  seemed  to  possess,  he  was  a  failure. 

True,  the  Charles  Kent  mare  was  a  trotter,  and  her  power  to  trans- 
mit these  qualities  of  the  Bellfounder  blood  were  enough  to  save  him. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  daughter  that  produced  Harry 
Clay.  Something  may  also  be  said  of  like  import  of  one  or  two 
others,  but  these  were  all  out  of  twenty  years  service  and  a  current 
popularity  that  surpassed  any  cotemporary  stallion.  Abdallah  was 
unpopular — almost  discarded — yet  he  left  his  powerful  impress  every- 
where. Nevertheless  of  Bellfounder  it  may  be  said  his  success  lies  in 
the  fact  that  he  plantofl  the  germ,  and  in  the  later  crosses  of  that  blood 
its  real  force  and  value  is  coming  out.     I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of 


TROTTERS  OF  BELLFOUNDER  BLOOD.         205 

the  sons  of  Hambletonian  will  in  breeding  display  the  richer  qualities 
■of  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  greater  force  than  it  was  displayed  by  him. 
The  only  trotters  he  left  from  mares  of  that  blood  that  attained  any 
distinction  are  Gazelle,  and  James  Howell  Jr.,  and  their  dams  were 
by  Harry  Clay.  His  sons  have  been  more  successful  in  the  same 
union  thus  far  than  he  was.  He  has  left  several  entire  sons  who 
■were  strono-  in  the  blood  of  Bellfounder,  but  not  one  of  them  has  vet 
produced  a  2:30  trotter;  Rysdyk's  Bellfounder,  Manhattan,  Idol,  Elec- 
tioneer— not  one  son  of  Hambletonian  and  a  mare  of  Bellfounder 
blood  has  yet  produced  a  2:30  trotter;  and  only  two  of  his  own  pro- 
duce from  such  mares  have  trotted  in  2:30,  excepting,  of  course, 
daughters  of  his  own  sons.  On  the  other  hand.  Volunteer  has  pro- 
duced Bodine  2:19i,  St.  Julien  2:22^,  Goldsmith's  Abdallah  2:30, 
his  grandam  being  a  mare  -of  Bellfounder  blood,  and  he  has  pro- 
duced Hickory,  2:30.  Messenger  Duroc  has  produced  Elaine,  2:28, 
three  years  old;  Hogarth,  2:26,  four  years  old;  and  Prospero,  2:20. 
Jay  Gould  has  produced  King  Philip,  2:21;  all  from  mares  of  that 
Mood.  Belmont,  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  was  from  a  mare  of  Bell- 
founder blood,  and  he  has  produced  three  trotters  with  records  respec- 
tively 2:23^,  2:24-2-,  and  2:29.  And  one  of  the  most  promising  two- 
j-ear-olds  by  Almont  was  from  a  mare  of  similar  composition.  The 
value  and  true  riclmess  of  the  blood  is  now  coming  out  in  the  more 
remote  descendants,  and  that  which  has  sustained  so  much  of  odium 
s  now  returning  to  the  flood  tide  of  popularity.  To-day  it  is  tlie 
ascending  current  in  popular  estimation.  By  its  union  Avith  other 
bloods,  and  especially  with  what  would  seem  to  be  its  kindred  blood 
in  the  Messenger  family,  it  has  eliminated  from  itself  the  gross 
and  cold  elements  which  came  from  some  inferior  English  road 
stock,  and  has  also  by  the  alliance  thrown  into  the  back  ground  the 
Arab  tendencies  of  the  Messenger  strains,  and  the  fusion  thus  pre- 
sented now  displays  its  trotting  quality  and  its  prepotent  breeding 
capacities  in  far  greater  degree  than  they  were  seen  in  the  first  or 
original  combinations.  The  dam  of  Florida  having  so  much  of  this 
blended  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  character  has  presented  in  Florida 
•an  exact  medium  or  intermediate  between  Hambletonian  and  Volun- 
teer.    He  is  much  like  each. 

Volunteer  has  been  acknowledged  by  all  to  show  more  in  his  out- 
ward form  and  appearance  of  the  Bellfounder  type  than  any  of  the 
■older  sons  of  Hambletonian,  which  is,  perhaps,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
in  the  composition  of  his  dam   those   conditions  appeared  that  were 


206  FLORIDA. 

required  for  calling  into  active  force  the   essential  Bellfonnder  ele- 
ments.; but  in  the  dam  of  Florida,  a  da\ighter  of  this  same  Volunteer, 
were  found  still  more  nearly  the  essential  conditions  requisite  to  call 
into  action  the  nerve  force,  temperament,  physical  and  mental  charac- 
teristics of  the  Bellfounder  horse,  as  we  have  nowhere  else  seen  them 
since  the  days  of  the  original  and  greatly  admired  Norfolk  trotter.     I 
have    seen   in    Kentucky    a   two-year-old  —  the    Cromwell    filly — by 
Almout,  the  grandam  of  which  was  by  Bellfounder  Jr.,  a  son  of  the 
Ohio  Bellfounder,  that  displayed  in   living  colors  the  genuine   Bell- 
founder t}'pe,  as   shown  in   a  gait  that  will  some  day  call  to  mind, 
memories  of  the  old  Norfolk  trotter,  and  at  the  same  time  will  shine 
out  with  an  original  brilliancy  in  a  new  constellation  that  has  appeared 
in  the  galaxy  since  his  star  went  beneath-  the  horizon.     To  an  eye 
that  has  learned  to  revel  in  the  excellence  of  this  most  lovelv  of 
trotting  gaits,  it  is  no  rare  sio-ht  to  witness  an  exact  and  faithful  exhi- 
bition  of  it  at  the  rate  of  2:40,  in  a  two-year-old  filly.      Marvelous 
indeed  must  have   been  the   high   qualities  of  that  sire  that  could,  in 
his  daughter,  Goldsmith  Maid,  exhibit  the  purity  and  elastic  richness 
of  the  finer  Abdallah  gait,   and  in  his  granddaughter,   through  the 
interposition  of  a  remote  cross,  reproduce  the  genuine   Bellfounder 
gait  in  all  its  nervous  richness,  and  exhibiting  a  poise  of  body,  and  a 
steady,  quick,  and  almost  flying  stroke,  scarcely  seen  since  the  days 
of  the  great  original.     But  such  are  the  mysterious  phantasies  of  this 
breeding  business,  that  the  rich  veins  of  pure  gold,  long  concealed  by 
processes  that  we   do  not  understand,  suddenly  come  out  in   strata 
"where  least  expected. 

When  I  first  saw  Florida,  during  the  month  of  January,  l876,  I 
found  him,  at  first  sight,  to  be  the  plain  and  unassuming  horse  that  I 
have  described.  By  the  term  plain,  however,  I  do  not  mean  coarse, 
or  lacking  in  good  form.  He  was  simply  good  all  over,  but  unpreten- 
tious. He  was  plainly  without  fault,  except  that,  for  his  breeding,  I 
thought  him  rather  light  in  his  hindquarter;  but  a  close  measurement 
satisfied  me  that  this  appearance  was  deceptive.  He  has  a  good  sized 
hock,  and  flat  hind  legs,  and  the  largest  knees  and  best  forearm  I 
have  found  anywhere.  He  is  good-natured  and  quiet,  and  shows  no 
signs  of  ill  temper.  He  was  unshod,  andj  from  appearances,  I  should 
Bay  had  been  so  for  a  month  or  two,  running  loose  in  a  small  enclosure 
■  attached  to  his  stable,  going  out  and  in  at  pleasure.  He  showed  no 
trace  of  extra  care  or  high  keeping.  His  owner  offered  to  have  him 
Bhod,  and  show  me  his  gait  on  my  return   the  day  following.     I  did 


Florida's  gait.  207 

not  return  for  ten  days,  and  then  came  in  the  rain  and  sleet,  when  the 
ground  was  covered  with  ice  and  snow.  I  can  not  say  what  prepara- 
tion the  horse  ma}^  have  had  for  a  show  of  speed,  but  should  suppose 
hone  whatever.  Standins-  bv  the  roadside,  with  mv  umbrella  over  mv 
head,  I  saw  a  man  mount  his  bare  back,  with  nothing-  on  but  a  bridle, 
and,  on  the  public  highway,  for  a  space  of  about  1,000  feet,  up  and 
down  an  icy  road,  partly  covered  with  snow,  and  in  the  worst  possible 
state  for  such  a  trial,  I  saw  such  a  display  of  speed  and  ready  trotting 
action  as  I  have  not  witnessed  anywhere  else.  I  must  do  justice  to 
all;  but  I  must  say  that  this  horse  has  all  the  qualities  of  a  genuine 
race-horse,  and  seems  ready  at  all  times  for  a  trot  that  would  be  hard 
to  surpass.  Although  the  road  was  uneven,  and  the  horse  slipped  for 
many  feet  at  a  time  in  places,  he  certainly  showed  me  a  gait  equal  to 
2:30  or  better,  and  under  a  state  of  circumstances  that,  to  my  mind, 
was  most  convincing  that  he  was  a  genuine  trotter.  To  describe  his 
gait  is  a  task  of  some  difficulty.  It  is  the  same  in  its  form  and  type 
as  that  of  the  Cromwell  filly,  above  referred  to.  It  is  a  rapid  gait — 
consisting  of  rapid  motions — does  not  appear  to  be  far-reaching  or 
dwelling,  but  all  the  feet  are  picked  up  rapidly,  thrown  out  from  the 
body  slightly  sidewise,  and  come  down  with  a  shar]3,  chopping  stroke, 
much  calling  to  mind  the  motion  of  the  prairie  chicken,  or  other  short- 
winged  birds,  ia  their  flight  in  a  straight  line  from  the  beholder. 
Standing  front  or  rear  you  seem  to  see  all  the  feet  in  the  air  at  once, 
but  not  at  great  elevation;  and  the  body  rocks,  or  sways,  gently  and 
very  slightly,  and  goes  forward  like  an  arrow  from  a  bow.  The  mo- 
tion is  sharp,  quick  and  vigorous,  but  not  violent  or  demonstrative.  It 
seems  to  involve  more  muscular  action  of  the  limbs  and  body  than 
the  Abdallah  gait,  but  not  so  great  an  expenditure  of  power  or  outlay 
of  strength  as  the  Clay  or  Patchen  gait.  To  the  eye  it  is  a  motion 
that  is  full  of  rapture  and  beauty.  The  horse  seems  to  go  on  short 
wings,  but  with  a  wonderfully  steady  motion,  in  a  straight  line,  and 
with  perfect  poise  of  body.  The  Abdallah  gait  seems  to  be  one  tliat 
you  can  best  see  as  it  passes  alongside  the  beholder,  or  as  it  recedes 
gently  in  the  distance  while  passing.  The  real  poetry  of  the  Bell- 
founder  gait  must  be  seen  while  the  animal  is  approaching  or  going 
from  you.  It  is  then  you  can  best  see  his  stifles  and  elbows  in  true 
line,  and  all  four  of  his  feet  seemingly  in  the  air  at  the  same  time, 
and  you  can  see  the  lines  of  his  hocks  and  elbows,  and  those  of  his 
fore  and  hind  feet,  all  at  the  same  time  and  in  perfect  line.     When 

thus  seen,  the  trotter  is  a  piece  of  machinery  rarely  excelled  in  any 
14 


208  FLORIDA. 

department  of  mechanical  skill.  But  no  pen  can  describe  such 
motions,  they  must  be  seen  and  attended  to  with  a  close  and  discrimi- 
nating eye  to  be  appreciated. 

An  Illinois  gentleman  whom  I  know  very  well  and  who  has  studied 
horses  somewhat  as  I  have  studied  them,  and  whose  estimate  of  a 
horse  would  go  very  far  with  me,  recently  went  East,  and  while  there 
saw  this  horse  Florida.  He  had  been  somewhat  prepossessed  in  his 
favor,  and  had  talked  with  me  about  him,  but  wanted  to  see  for  himself. 
He  found  the  horse  kept  as  he  is  for  service  and  but  little  used  in 
harness,  and  in  fact,  from  information  had  received  the  notion  that  the 
owner  of  Florida  did  not  often  show  him  in  harness,  which  excited 
a  desire  to  see  him  in  that  way.  His  letter  tells  the  result  as  well 
as  it  can  be  expressed.     He  says  : 

Florida  was  put  in  harness,  as  Mr.  Taylor  said,  the  first  time  since  Octol3er 
(six  mouths),  and  his  performance  was  truly  wonderful.  I  think  to  a  wagon  of 
at  least  275  pounds  with  Mr.  T.  and  myself  in,  he  showed  us  close  to  a  thirtj'  gait^ 
and  I  am  confident  he  drew  us  up  a  steep  hill  without  a  hitch  at  a  fifty  gait.  I 
certainly  never  rode  after  or  saw  a  horse  that  seemed  to  be  so  perfectly  ignorant 
of  everything  but  trot.  lu  passing  a  crowd  of  boys  he  started  as  if  to  run 
away  and  Mr.  T.  gave  him  his  head,  but  he  kept  his  square  trot  without  a 
sign  of  a  break.  What  surprised  me  most  was  his  freedom  from  all  nei-vous 
excitement  and  perfect  readiness  to  sail  through ;  his  great  delight  seemed  to 
be  to  trot,  and  the  faster  the  better.  I  rode  after  three  of  his  sous,  and  I  assure 
you  they  are  worthy  sous  of  a  noble  sire. 

His  way  of  going  would  charm  anj^  lover  of  the  trotting  horse,  and  it  seems 
to  be  utterly  impossible  to  drive  him  to  a  break  or  even  a  hitch,  aud  his 
greatest  delight  seemed  to  be  in  his  most  rapid  flight,  while  with  a  word  he 
would  come  to  a  quiet  walk  with  all  the  docility  of  a  lamb,  and  seemed  to  be 
the  very  horse  you  would  first  select  to  trust  your  wife  or  daughter  with. 
Much  as  this  horse  is  admired  in  the  stable,  or  when  shown  at  the  halter,  his 
great  qualities  can  ouly  be  appreciated  by  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to 
see  him  at  full  speed. 

I  may  say  here  that,  to  my  mind,  the  Bellfounder  conformation  ii> 
one  that  evinces  great  muscular  power  in  small  compass  and  at  the 
right  place.  For  trotting  purposes,  the  muscle  is  htmg  at  the  proper 
point,  and  has  the  most  comjilete  use  of  the  machinery  to  be  wielded 
by  it.  While  mares  by  Sayer's  Harrj-  Clay  have  been  a  success  with 
the  Hambletonian  stallions,  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  they  belong 
to  the  long-leverage  family,  invariably,  so  far  as  I  have  inspected 
them,  shoNving  a  very  long  measurement  from  hip  to  hock — one  four- 
year-old  by  Volunteer,  second  dam  by  Harry  Clay,  being  41  inches, 
and  a  mare  by  Hamljletonian,  dam  by  Harry  Clay,  being  41^  inches. 


AN   IMPRESSIVE   SIRE.  209 

Bodine,  dam  by  Harry  Clay,  41  inches,  and  thus,  g'enerally.  Now, 
while  there  is  in  those  of  that  conformation  a  tendency  toward 
a  dwelling  gait,  and  an  appearance  of  great  expenditure  of  power, 
when  this  cross  is  coupled  with  two  crosses  of  the  Bellfounder  blood, 
the  limb  is  gathered  up  in  time  for  the  fast  rates  of  a  Bodine,  a 
St.  Julien,  a  Gazelle  or  Prospero.  Hence  it  would  seem  that  the 
long  lever  had,  in  this  case,  the  master  muscle  to  propel  it. 

From  all  the  study  I  have  been  able  to  give  the  subject,  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  family  conformation  and  measurement  of  the  Bell- 
founder  and  that  of  the  Messengers  and  Abdallahs  differed  very 
slightly,  which  is  also  a  proof  of  their  kinship.  I  incline  to  the  opinion, 
that  the  Bellfounder  leverasre  was  somewhat  long-er  than  that  of  Abdal- 
lah,  but  in  like  proportion.  From  all  that  I  can  gather,  after  many 
examinations,  I  am  satisfied  the  Abdallah  tyi^e  was  39 — 23,  and  that 
Hambletonian  (himself  a  little  larger)  breeds  back  to  that  type,  even 
in  the  first  cross.  That  the  in-bred  Hambletonians  will,  and  do,  go 
back  toward  the  Abdallah  standard  in  many  particulars,  I  have  already 
shown.  Gov.  Sprague's  measurement,  39 — 23^,  is  to  the  same  effect, 
and  settles  the  question,  if  there  ever  was  any  question,  as  to  his  dam 
being  by  Hambletonian.  But  the  strongest  instance  is  that  of  Strader's 
C.  M.  Clay,  from  a  long-limbed  grandsire  and  an  Abdallah  mare,  the 
latter  controlhng  both  as  to  measurement  and  as  to  srait — a  total 
ileparture  from  the  early  Clay  standard — and  his  measure  is  39 — 23. 
Such  a  fact  proves  the  prepotency  of  the  Abdallah  blood,  notwithstand- 
ing it  is  true  that  he  yielded  so  much  of  the  form  of  Hambletonian 
to  Bellfounder. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  Florida  was  taken  from  the  stud  and 
trained  he  would  make  a  stallion  among  the  fastest,  and  perhaps  equal 
to  any  tlmt  Hambletonian  has  joroduced.  His  produce  that  have  come 
under  my  inspection  leave  in  my  mind  the  belief,  also,  that  he  will 
prove  an  impressive  sire,  especially  when  mated  with  mares  of  kindred 
blood,  as  those  belonging  to  the  Hambletonian  family.  He  has  none, 
I  believe,  older  than  six  years,  and  I  have  been  informed  that  they 
showed  his  image  and  characteristics,  without  one  exception.  I  have 
not  seen  a  lot  of  stock,  the  produce  of  one  horse,  that  bore  more  of 
the  impress  of  the  sire  than  I  have  seen  in  those  of  the  get  of  Florida 
that  have  come  under  my  notice — above  twenty-five  in  number. 
From  the  apparent  speed  and  ready  trotting  action  of  the  yearlings 
and  two-year-olds  of  the  produce  of  Florida,  I  should  say  he  gives 
evidence  that  he  Avill  produce  early  trotters.     The  three  points  of  his 


210  FLORIDA. 

character  that  seem  to  stand  out  clearly  and  above  all  others,  to  mv 
mind,  are:  First,  his  strong  traits  of  the  Bellfounder  blood,  both  as 
seen  in  his  form  and  in  his  gait,  manner  of  acting  and  going,  his  tem- 
perament and  entire  nerve  organization.  Secondly,  for  the  genuine 
trotting  quality,  inclination  or  capacity,  whatever  it  may  be  styled,  he 
stands  out,  in  his  own  family  and  in  all  other  of  our  x\merican  trotting 
families,  with  a  distinction  rarely  reached  and  hardly  excelled  any- 
where. Thirdly,  his  intense  jDOsitiveness  and  impressive  concentration 
of  quality,  and  consequent  ability  to  impart  it  to  his  produce.  His 
in-breeding  would  tend  to  make  him  an  imj^ressive  sire — and  of 
really  impressive  sires,  of  strong  and  230sitive  individuality,  we  have 
had  very  few. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  Hambletonian  was  not  a  really  impressive 
sire  in  all  his  matings.  Volunteer  and  many  of  his  sons  surpass  him. 
The  reason  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Bellfounder  blood  in 
him  was  in  a  form  too  crude;  it  did  not  readily  assimilate  with  the 
other  combinations  into  which  it  entered.  The  Duroc-Messenger 
blood  was  one  that  fused  with  everything.  Volunteer  was  a  remote 
Duroc-Messenger,  and  his  composition  presented  the  blood  of  Bell- 
founder in  a  form  more  completely  assimilated  than  was  to  be  found 
in  many  of  his  older  sons.  The  daughter  of  Volunteer  carried  the 
process  of  assimilation  still  further,  and  in  Florida  we  have  a  stallion 
that  presents  the  elements  of  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  in  better 
combination  than  they  were  presented  in  Hambletonian,  the  original 
sire,  including  also  a  strain  of  Duroc,  very  slight,  while  the  Bell- 
founder is'very  strong  and  positive.  He  will  be  more  impressive  as  a 
sire  than  Hambletonian;  whether  he  will  attain  to  the  real  greatness 
of  Hambletonian  must  depend  on  many  circumstances,  and  is  yet  to 
be  ascertained.     He  is  certainly  one  of  great  promise. 

HIS    soxs. 

Montgomery,  now  five  years  old,  is  a  horse  of  considerable  merit. 
His  dam  was  by  Hambletonian;  3d  dam  by  Liberty.  He  shows  his 
in-breeding  in  his  strong  Hambletonian  caste.  He  is  owned  by  A. 
D.  Peeler,  of  Binghamton,  New  York. 

George  H.  Low  is  five  years  old.  His  dam  was  Mary  Hunter,  by 
Guy  Miller,  son  of  Hambletonian;  2d  dam  by  Friday.  He  is  owned 
in  Michigan,  and  is  said  to  greatly  resemble  his  sire. 

New  York  Sun  is  five  years  old,  and  supposed  to  be  a  rising  sun  in 
the  breeding  and  trotting  fii-mament.     His  dam  is  by  Billy  Denton, 


HIS   SONS.  211 

son  of  Hambletonian;  2d  dam  by  Abdallah.  With  such  a  pedigree 
he  ought  to  outshine  even  his  distinguished  namesake.  He  trotted  as 
a  four-year-old  in  2:35.  He  is  owned  by  William  C.  Edge,  of  New- 
ark, N.  J. 

McCrea,  also  five  years  old,  dam  by  Royal  George,  is  owned  in 
Colorado. 

Hambleton,  now  three  years  old,  dam  by  Hambletonian;  2d  dam 
by  Hickory;  is  said  to  be  a  very  fine  and  highly  promising  trotter. 
His  close  in -breeding  will  be  apparent,  but  he  may  be  very  positive 
as  a  sire.     I  should  prefer  a  further  remove  from  the  parent  stock. 

William  Fullerton  Jr.  is  four  years  old,  and  is  from  a  mare  by  Stra- 
der's  Cassius  M.  Clay.  He  closely  resembles  his  sire,  as  do  all  the 
colts  of  Florida  in  great  measure.  He  is  a  fast  and  promising  colt, 
and  is  owned  by  J.  C.  Warr,  of  Wareham,  Mass. 

Arlington,  now  four  years  old,  is  from  a  mare  called  Morning  Glory, 
by  imported  Consternation,  and  said  to  be  a  thoroughbred.  This  colt 
is  large  and  very  blood-like  and  handsome,  and  his  trotting  quahty 
has  already  been  shown  to  be  very  great.  He  has  shown  speed,  and 
a  gait  that  gives  promise  of  making  a  trotter.  If  such  should  be  the 
fact,  it  will  be  eminently  suggestive  of  the  question  whether  the  blood 
of  Bellfounder  in  Florida  has  not  gone  through  the  process  of  natu- 
ralization so  far  as  to  make  it  available  for  mares  that  come  from 
thoroughbred  families.  The  career  of  this  colt  will  be  looked  to  with 
interest  by  those  who  know  of  his  early  promise.  He  is  owned  by 
Joseph  Williamson,  of  Staten  Island. 

Exton  Abdallah  is  a  colt,  now  three  years  old,  owned  by  R.  P. 
Helm,  Lake  county,  111.  His  dam  was  Henrietta,  by  Roe's  Abdallah 
Chief;  2d  dam  by  Exton  Eclipse.  Henrietta  was  a  superior  mare, 
dam  of  Allen  C.  Patchen  and  several  other  good  ones.  This  colt 
looks  much  like  Florida  in  front,  but  is  more  of  a  cat-hammed  Abdal- 
lah behind.  His  action  is  very  superior,  and  he  shows  a  strong  adher- 
ence to  the  trotting  gait. 

I  will  only  add  that  I  have  seen  no  son  of  Hambletonian  whose 
form  and  ways  were  more  apparent  or  more  clearly  impressed  on  his 
colts  than  is  that  of  Florida  on  those  descended  from  him. 


CHAPTER  TX. 

ADMINISTRATOR. 

Administrator  was  foaled  in.  1863,  bred  by  Elijah  'NA^'oolsey,  of 
New  Paltz,  Ulster  county,  N.  Y.,  who  OAVTied  and  kept  him  in  that 
mountainous  county  until  he  was  ten  years  old,  when  he  was  sold  to 
his  present  owaier,  Col.  Geo.  F.  Stevens,  of  Ilion,  New  York.  His 
pedigree  is  given  as  follows:  By  Hambletonian,  first  dam  by  Mam- 
brino  Chief;  second  dam  by  Arabian  Tartar;  third  dam  by  Duroc 
Messenger,  and  he  by  a  son  of  Duroc,  dam  by  Bush  Messenger,  a  son 
of  imp.  Messenger — ^the  blood  of  the  sire  of  the  first  dam  and  that  of 
the  third  dam  being;  the  only  ones  well  knoAATi.  He  is  a  lar^e  and 
very  compact  horse,  and  weighs  1,210  lbs.  He  is  in  color  a  rich,  glossy 
brown — almost  black — and  late  in  the  season  shows  a  very  neat  dis- 
play  of  bay  or  wine  color  about  the  muzzle  and  flanks.  He  stands 
full  sixteen  hands  high,  but  has  not  the  appearance  of  a  tall  horse. 
His  head  is  clean,  bony,  and  well  shaped — not  like  that  of  Hamble- 
tonian, and  only  having  a  slight  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Marabrino 
Chief  family,  from  Avhich  his  dam  came.  His  head,  as  well  as  his 
bod}'  and  limbs,  has  no  element  of  coarseness,  but  shows  strong  and 
positive  outlines,  and  has  by  some  been  called  fine,  bvit  I  should  style 
it  a  very  good  rather  than  a  very  fine  head.  It  has  the  width  of  fore- 
head, depth  of  brain,  and  clear,  prominent  eye,  that  mark  the  family 
of  Abdallah.  His  jaws  and  throat  are  as  fine  and  clear  as  could  be 
asked,  and  his  ear  is  a  thin  and  well-set  one;  and  a  neck  of  handsome 
length,  carrying  his  head  at  a  proper  angle,  gives  him  as  fine  a  forward 
appearance  as  could  be  desired  by  the  most  fastidious.  His  picture 
that  accompanies  this  sketch,  will  convey  a  very  accurate  idea  of  his 
high  form  and  very  commanding  appearance.  He  is  stately  and  posi- 
tive in  character,  as  would  he  inferred  from  the  portrait.  His  shoulder 
and  body  are  as  good,  strong  and  even  formed,  for  a  horse  of  such  great 
compactness  and  solid  mould,  as  can  be   found  anywhere;  and  he 

(212) 


^4111111'"" 


A   DUROC-MESSENGEE.  213 

stands  uprightly  and  squarely  on  his  legs.  His  liind  leg  is  a  little 
straighter,  but  other\vise  not  unlike  that  of  Hambletonian,  and  the 
thigh  is  noticeably  long,  and  very  powerful;  quarters  very  heavy,  and 
the  great  muscle  coming  down  within  twelve  inches  of  the  hock. 
His  outer  muscle  on  the  second  thigh  or  gaskin  is  noticeably  large 
and  prominent;  but  the  great  excellence  of  his  conformation  of  the 
hindquarters  lies  in  the  distribution  of  the  muscular  combination  from 
the  hips  and  croup  all  the  way  down  the  quarters  and  thighs,  and  that 
absence  of  massing  of  muscle  above  the  second  thigh,  at  the  expense 
of  other  portions  of  his  rear  frame  work.  His  rump  runs  out  even 
and  full,  an,d  his  whirlbone  is  located  high — which  holds  the  seat  of 
power  for  trotting  purposes  in  even  and  thorough  distribution  through- 
out. His  gait  and  manner  of  going  is  controlled  in  great  part  by  this 
more  elevated  placing  of  his  muscular  combination,  holding  the  pro- 
pelling centers  at  a  range  nearer  to  the  hip  and  whirlbone,  and,  by 
reason  of  his  great  expanse  of  flank  room,  completely  controlling  his 
way  of  going,  and  giving  him  a  gait  entirely  different  from  what  his 
long  thigh  and  strong  Duroc  outline  would  otherwise  have  fastened 
upon  him.  And  right  here  is  the  point  of  study  in  his  composition 
which  is  the  fullest  of  instruction,  and  worthy  of  our  closest  consider- 
ation. 

His  dam  was  by  Mambrino  Chief,  whose  dam  may  be  set  down  as  a 
granddaughter  of  Duroc.  His  third  dam  was  by  Duroc  Messenger,  a 
grandson  of  Duroc.  This  gives  this  horse  two  crosses  of  Duroc 
blood,  which  is  visible  in  only  one  particular  in  his  entire  composition. 
He  has  a  thigh  24^  inches  in  length,  but  has  scarcely  a  trace  of  the 
Duroc  element  in  his  s-ait.  Instead  of  swinsrino-  his  hocks  wide  out, 
and  trotting  Avith  a  sprawling,  wide,  open  gait,  as  it  is  called,  he  trots 
as  close  and  true  as  Ladj^  Thorn  with  her  23-inch  thigh.  His  length 
from  hip  to  hock,  for  so  large  a  horse,  is  not  great — 39-i-  inches — 
but  he  lifts  his  feet  up  squarely,  and  sj)reads  out  his  stifle,  and  sets 
each  foot  forward  as  truly  in  line  as  any  son  of  Hambletonian  in  the 
land.  This  is  entirely  owing  to  the  muscular  conformation  of  his 
quarters,  and  their  great  proportions,  and  particularly  the  great  leno-th 
of  the  lines  H  and  G,  which  shows  his  comparative  size  and  room  from 
stifle  to  hip,  and  from  stifle  to  the  outer  muscular  covering  of  the 
wliirlbone.  His  measurement  in  the  triangle  of  the  hindquarter  is  as 
follows:  H  19,  F  21,  G  30,  which,  it  will  be  observed,  is  precisely  the 
same  as  Hambletonian's.  His  flank  room  is  amjale,  and  his  muscle  so 
works   as  to   throw  his   stifle  out  wide,  and  yet  his  hocks  are    not 


214  ADMINISTRATOR. 

widened  enough  to  give  him  the  appearance  of  a  sprawler.  His  gait 
for  a  large  horse  is  greatly  admired  and  approved  by  all  horsemen. 
This  is  contrary  to  the  average  Duroc  characteristics,  which  generally 
are  found  in  a  flank  of  insufficient  depth,  and  muscles  so  apportioned 
as  to  either  heat  the  belly  with  the  stifles,  or  go  with  a  wide,  open  gait. 
A  gait  of  fair  and  reasonable  Avidth  is  desirable  for  clean,  non-inter- 
fering action,  but  beyond  that  it  is  objectionable.  In  trotting  he 
throws  his  feet  well  out  in  front,  and  bends  his  knees  admirablv  with- 
out  lifting  them  too  high,  and  his  hind  feet  extend  well  backward,  but 
not  so  noticeably  as  in  the  Clay  and  Patchen  families  generally; 
while  the  steady  and  powerful  stroke  with  which  they  are  brought  up 
under  his  body  and  sent  forward,  gives  him  the  momentum  of  a  very 
powerful  trotter;  yet  for  all  that,  his  way  of  going  betokens  the  greatest 
ease.  The  muscles  of  the  body  and  of  the  limbs  and  quarters  work 
in  such  perfect  harmony  as  to  secure  this  easy  and  steady  appearance 
in  his  trotting  action. 

While  it  is  true  that  his  double  lines  of  Duroc  blood  are  not  the 
controlling  elements  in  his  composition,  the  real  force  and  value  of 
that  blood  is  present  in  him  in  as  rich  a  combination  as  can  anywhere 
be  found  in  this  country.  He  is,  m  fact,  my  beau  ideal  of  a  Duroc- 
Messenger.  The  three  elements  of  his  composition — Messenger,  Duroc^ 
and  Bellfounder — are  so  finely  inwi'ought  and  so  completely  blended 
as  to  form  a  perfect  and  homogeneous  union,  and  work  together  in 
entire  harmony  and  in  the  exuberance  of  the  most  absolute  healthful- 
ness.     Not  an  infirm  trait  or  tendency  is  manifest  in  him. 

He  is  a  great,  strong  horse,  positive  in  his  Messenger  characteristics. 
He  has  that  ready  fusible  and  ever  affiliating  caste  which  distinguishes 
the  union  of  the  Messenger  and  Duroc  bloods. 

He  has  also  the  rich  qualities  of  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  a  form 
and  degree  where  they  are  more  readily  reached  and  ajiplied — more 
yielding  and  fusible  perhaps  than  they  existed  in  Hambletonian  him- 
self. The  composite  of  the  first  two  bloods  formed  the  truest  and 
most  suitable  soil  in  which  to  reproduce  the  best  fruits  from  the  more 
uncertain  and  unyielding  Bellfounder.  While  a  Duroc-Messenger 
mare  may  not  have  been  the  equal  of  a  Bellfounder  in  genuine  trotting 
quality,  such  a  mare  would  have  furnished  a  field  far  more  yielding- 
arid  fruitful  to  the  impress  of  any  other  blood.  It  was  notably  a 
union  that  reatlily  impressed  all  other  bloods  and  as  readily  swallowed 
them  up  in  any  composition  into  which  they  all  entered.  We  have 
never  had  an  element  in  the  American  trotting  horse  that  was  so  uni- 


DUROC-MESSENGEB   BLOOD.  215 

versally  successful  in  uniting  with  any  and  all  other  bloods — in 
imparting  richness  to  them,  and  in  receiving  all  their  good  qualities — 
as  this  same  union  of  Duroc  and  Messenger.  The  Bellfounder  blood 
was  a  coy  element.  It  had  no  readiness  for  other  strains,  and  it  was 
not  until  it  was  filtered  through  distant  aad  remote  crossings  that  its 
dross  was  so  far  ehminated  as  to  give  us  its  pure  gold,  but  when  that 
state  was  reached,  no  gold  of  Ophir  or  the  Sierra  Nevada  ever  shone 
with  such  a  radiance  and  enduring  lustre. 

The  strong  Duroc-Messenger  caste  of  the  dam  of  Administrator 
was  the  field  of  more  than  alluvial  fertility  to  the  pent-up  excellences 
of  Hambletonian. 

The  excellence  of  the  union  of  the  blood  of  Duroc  and  Messenger 
for  trotting  purposes  was  seen  at  an  early  day  in  the  Eastern  States. 
Duroc  was  taken  to  Long  Island  at  a  time  when  the  daughters  of 
Messenger  were  very  abundant.  The  success  of  American  Eclipse  as 
a  race-horse  justified  the  opinion  that  they  would  excel  on  that  branch 
of  the  turf.  The  larg^e  number  of  such  mares  that  were  sent  to  Duroc, 
and  the  early  promise  of  the  union  for  road  purposes,  served  to  make 
the  cross  a  popular  one.  Stevens'  Messenger  Duroc,  and  Stockholm's 
American  Star,  were  both  used  for  racing  purposes  at  an  early  age, 
and  both  gave  evidence  of  special  adaptation  to  the  trotting  gait 
and  of  great  excellence  for  road  purposes.  The  former  stood  in  the 
central  portions  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  gave  us  the  dam  of 
Mambrino  Chief — a  matter  of  which  there  can  be  hardly  any  reasona- 
ble doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  student  of  horse  breeding,  who  carefully 
and  fairly  considers  the  matter  of  locality,  chronology  and  blood 
qualities  in  the  respective  families. 

The  latter,  known  as  the  first  American  Star,  from  a  daughter  of 
the  little  Diomed  horse,  Henry,  son  of  Sir  Archy,  gave  us  Seely's 
American  Star.  The  grandam  being  by  Messenger,  the  essential  Duroc 
characteristics  are  in  this  family  slightly  modified,  both  by  the  Henry 
cross  and  the  increased  Messenger,  but  the  Duroc-Messenger  caste 
and  type  in  the  family  prevails  in  such  strong  degree  as  to  give  the 
whole  or  predominant  character  to  the  family,  even  to  the  descendants 
of  Hambletonian,  that  have  come  from  Star  mares — they  are  essentially 
Duroc-Messenger  in  their  tyi^e  qualities,  both  in  matter  of  gait  and 
blood  traits. 

The  high  trotting  quality  of  the  Duroc-Messenger  blood  is  displayed 
in  eminent  degree  in  the  various  branches  of  the  families  thus 
descended.     They  are  bold  and  free  drivers,  going  with  a  ready,  ojDen 


210  ADMINISTRATOR. 

and  sweeping  stride.  They  display  their  readiness  for  the  trotting 
gait  at  a  very  early  age,  never  lacking  for  courage  and  resolution,  and 
showing  much  less  nervous  intractability  than  many  other  families. 
They  bear  early  training,  and  can  be  forced  to  the  utmost  displays  of 
speed  with  an  ease  and  a  freedom  from  excitement  shown  b}'  few 
families.  They  display  a  total  absence  of  that  hotheadedness  wliich 
characterizes  some  otherwise  valuable  strains.  While  they  require 
but  little  of  the  lash,  they  will  bear  it,  and  let  out  the  last  links  they 
possess.  These  qualities  render  the  Duroc- Messenger  a  class  that 
bear  training  early,  hence  the  earliness  of  their  fame  as  trotters.  They 
excel  in  the  class  of  two  and  three-year-old  performers.  Their  courage 
and  pluck  in  the  severe  contests  of  a  race  never  fail,  and  the  name 
of  quitter  can  not  with  any  degree  of  propriety  be  applied  to  them. 
They  are  also  distinguished  for  the  success  of  this  blood  when  crossed 
Avith  other  stock  that  are  totally  deficient  in  trotting  action.  The 
produce  of  stallions  from  this  cross  on  thoroughbred  and  other  highly 
bred  mares  is  often  marked  in  high  degree. 

The  original  union  was  that  of  two  thoroughbred  strains,  and  pro- 
duced in  that  union  superior  roadsters. 

Stevens'  Messenger  Duroc  was  by  Duroc,  from  Vincenta,  a  thor- 
oughbred daughter  of  Messenger,  and  he  was  a  roadster  of  great 
excellence,  and  exhibited  qualities  of  a  horse  for  harness  and  road 
purposes  of  the  highest  order.  Stockholm's  American  Star  was  bred 
in  like  manner,  and  his  dam  was  claimed  to  be  a  thoroughbred, 
although  the  pedigree  can  not  be  shown.  He  was  both  a  runner  and 
a  trotter,  and  a  noted  horse  at  both  gaits.  The  fame  of  the  second  or 
Seely's  American  Star  and  his  family,  is  of  the  first  order;  and  linked 
with  the  descendants  of  Hambletonian,  the  cross  has  for  a  long 
period  shone  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude. 

The  real  greatness  of  Administrator  furnishes  another  useful  chap- 
ter in  the  lesson  so  often  to  be  learned  in  the  science  of  breeding  and 
so  often  presented  in  this  work — that  of  making  radical  and  important 
changes  from  original  conditions  of  great  dissimilarity. 

The  blood  of  Messenger  and  that  of  Duroc  had  only  one  original  ele- 
ment of  similaiity,  and  that  was  the  Arabic  or  racing  quality,  which 
■was  not  only  foreign  but  opposed  to  all  trotting  tendencies. 

In  the  Duroc  blood  there  was  no  trotting  quality  whatever,  except 
that  from  the  Medley  cross  he  had  inherited  a  physical  conformation  that 
furnished  a  suitable  scion  upon  which  to  engraft  trotting  tendencies 
and  instincts.  The  latter  existed  in  Messenger  in  intimate  and  close, 
union  with  his  thorouo'hbred  or  i»acin'X  characteristics. 


THE   COMBINATION.  217 

Bellfounder  had  no  element  of  real  consana-uinitv  with  either  of 
these  Arab  strains  unless  it  was  in  the  distant  back  ground  and  be- 
hind a  barrier  of  cold  blooded  and  entirely  unfamiliar  and  antagonis- 
tic material.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  the  two  former  affiliating-  and 
forming  a  union,  on  the  breeder's  familiar  basis  of  consanguinity,  but 
the  latter  could  only  be  reached  after  a  process  of  naturalization,  or 
•dilution.  The  ]\Iessenger  blood  had  perhaps  some  familiarity  with 
it  in  their  probal^le  descent  from  a  common  ancestor  in  part,  through 
the  blood  of  Sampson.  But  the  gulf  was  too  wide,  if  the  union 
must  be  effected  between  the  three  bloods  in  their  originally  pure 
state. 

The  Bellfounder  blood  did  not  familiarize  with  any  strictly  thorough- 
T^red  family.     The  advance  must  be  gradual,  and  it  must  be  mutual. 

The  Duroc- Messenger  union  must  be  in  the  form  of  a  part-bred  or 
road  stock  toned  dow^n  to  the  trotting  level,  and  the  Bellfoxander  strain 
must  have  gone  through  a  similar  course  in  the  channels  furnished 
by  Abdallah  and  the  Kent  mare,  and  presented  in  Hambletonian. 

In  Administrator  the  results  of  this  series  of  gradual  naturalizing 
or  affiliating  processes  find  their  complete  success.  He  is  to-day  the 
embodiment  of  the  combined  excellences  of  these  three  great  strains, 
Avith  their  opposing  and  unfriendly  tendencies  and  inclinations  com- 
pletely eliminated.  Every  law  of  breeding  science  declares  that  by 
all  the  greatness  of  Messenger,  by  all  the  excellences  of  Duroc,  and 
all  the  golden  treasures  of  Bellfounder,  Administrator  shall  be,  and  is, 
a  great  and  successful  sire  of  roadsters  and  trotters.  That  the  verdict 
shall  be  according  to  the  law  so  plainly  written,  is  to-day  regarded  as 
a  matter  of  absolute  popular  belief,  fast  approaching  a  demonstrated 
certainty. 

I  have  in  this  chapter  and  elsewhere  sjDoken  of  the  excellences  of 
the  Duroc  blood  when  united  with  that  of  Messenger  for  trotting 
purposes.  I  rank  it  as  the  best  and  only  strain  of  pure  blood  that  has 
shown  any  special  adaptation  to  the  purposes  of  the  trotting  families 
in  union  with  that  of  Messenger;  but  I  would  have  it  kept  clearl}^  in 
mind,  that  it  is  only  in  union  with  that  great  and  all-prevailing  trot- 
ting element  that  it  gives  any  such  character.  It  had  of  itself  no 
trotting  instinct  or  inclination  whatever,  and  its  serious  and  deep- 
seated  infirmities  were  such  as  to  debar  it  from  any  combination  in 
which  these  traits  could  not  be  effectually  or  materially  overcome. 
The  Messenger  blood  was  noted  for  such  inborn  purity  and  genuine 
healthfulness,  that  it,  of  all  others,  was  best  calculated  to  give  health 


218  ADMINISTRATOR. 

and  soundness  to  a  combination  with  an  element  whose   tendencies 
were  so  strongly  toward  unsoundness. 

The  Bellfounder  blood  was  also  one  of  rare  health  and  vigor,  and 
free  from  all  hereditary  taint,  such  as  that  which  came  down  in  the 
blood  of  Diomed.  But  these  two  magical  bloods  have  not  always 
been  successful  in  eifacino-  the  infirm  tendencies  of  the  Duroc  blood. 
Bad  hocks,  spavms,  curbs  and  ringbones  sometimes  come  out  and 
mar  the  excellences  of  the  most  promising  embodiment  of  these 
three  great  trotting  constituents. 

But  in  this  matter  of  sound  and  powerful  hocks,  in  the  stallion 
Administrator  and  in  all  of  his  produce,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the 
Messenger,  Abdallah  and  Bellfounder  bloods  have  completely  tri- 
umphed over  any  and  all  infirm  tendencies  of  the  Duroc  blood. 

His  hocks  can  not  be  surpassed  in  strength,  form  or  soundness; 
and  in  all  I  have  seen  of  his  produce  of  full  age,  two-year-olds,  year- 
lino-s  and  young  foals,  I  have  not  seen  or  heard  of   an  unsound, 
defective  or  ill-formed  hock  in  the  whole  number.     He  is  now  in  Ken- 
tucky, where  breeders  have  had  such  opportunities  for  studying  bad 
hocks  that  they  do  not  overlook  them  in  the  produce  of  a  horse  that 
can  command  the  full  limit  of  eighty  mares  before  the  expiration  of 
his  season,  if  any  such  defects  exist.     His  feet,  while  large,  are  not 
the  broad,  flat  feet  of  the  original  Messenger  Duroc  pattern,  nor  are 
they  in  any  degree  of  the  soft  and  fragile  texture  which  marked  the 
get  of  that  horse,  and  many  of  the   Mambrino   Chief  family.     In  all 
these  particulars  the  inherent  soundness  of  the  Messenger  and  Bell- 
founder blood  has  asserted  its  full  sway,  and  his  broad,  flat  legs  and 
general  soundness  are  apparent  to  the  most  casual   observer.     His 
body  is  evenly  formed  throughout,  and  of  the  most  muscular  pat- 
tern.    His  perfection  of  health  and  soundness  in  every  part  is  shown 
in  this,  that  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years  he  began  his  season  in  the 
stud  weighing  1,210  lbs.,  and  on  the  first  day  of  July,   after  securing 
eighty-one  mares,  which,  with   the  returns  for   service — not  a  large 
proportion — amounted  to  a  service  of  nearly  one  hundred  times,  he 
weighed  just  1,200  lbs.,  in  my  presence;  and,  furthermore,  could  at 
any  period  of  this  time  show  a  2:30  gait.     No  horse  that  did  not  pos- 
sess constitutional  power  of  the  very  highest  order  could  approach 
this  capacity.     He  spent  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  in  a  way  not  tO' 
encourage  the  belief  that  he  could  ever  show  or  attain  to  speed.    But 
in  two  years  after  passing  into  the  hands  of  Col.  Stevens  he  trotted  a. 
full  mile  inside  of  2:35,  and  this  at  the  close  of  a  heavy  year's  ser- 


SUCCESSFUL   SIRE.  219 

Tice.  This  was  a  performance  well  worthy  the  two  great  trotting 
bloods  from  which  he  comes. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  or  understood  from  this  that  he  has  under- 
gone any  special  training  for  the  purposes  of  speed.  The  marked 
improvement  in  the  horse  has  been  simply  the  result  of  good  care — 
perhaps  as  good  as  any  horse  could  have — and  regular  exercise,  with 
•such  practice  at  the  trotting  gait  as  could  be  secured  for  a  stallion 
doing  so  large  a  service  as  has  fallen  to  his  fortune  since  he  went  to 
his  present  home  in  Kentucky.  It  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  Duroc 
blood  in  some  compositions  that  it  can  not  endure  the  amount  of  work 
necessary  to  bring  it  to  the  highest  mark  of  superiority  in  perform- 
ance. But  this  is  not  the  case  with  Administrator.  His  strains  of 
that  blood  are  so  remote  and  so  interwoven  with  those  that  are  always 
ready  for  hard  visage  that  he  revels  in  constant  and  severe  use.  That 
this  excellence  will  also  distinguish  his  produce  is  now  made  certain 
by  the  successful  performance  of  such  as  have  attained  age  enough 
to  appear  in  public  contests  on  the  road  or  track. 

Although  his  career  in  the  stud  has  been  a  brief  and  an  interrupted 
one,  the  first  fruits  are  beginning  to  appear,  and  give  not  only  ample 
but  superabundant  proofs  of  his  great  superiority  as  a  sire,  and  stamp 
him  as  the  great  Duroc-Messenger-Bellfounder  stallion  of  this  gener- 
ation. Should  his  career  close  to-day,  the  verdict  of  the  next  quarter 
of  a  century  would  be  that  he  was  a  great  stallion. 

His  stock  are  almost  uniformly  bays  and  browns,  with  an.  occasional 
grey.  The  following  extract  may  be  taken  as  authoritative  in  regard 
to  some  of  the  full-aged  produce  of  this  horse: 

Administrator  was  taken  to  Kentucky,  and  made  his  first  season  there  in 
1874,  previous  to  which  he  had  been  kept  in  the  mountainous  regions  of 
Ulster  county,  N.  Y.,  where  there  is  but  little  stock  bred,  except  for  farm  use, 
and  hence  he  was  but  little  known,  and  had  no  access  to  well-bred  mares,  and 
but  few  of  any  kind.  His  colts  are,  therefore,  limited  in  number ;  but,  never- 
theless, the  few  that  have  been  trained  have  all  shown  themselves  very  speedy. 
Previous  to  1874,  the  only  one  of  his  get  that  had  ever  been  trained  was  Inez. 
She,  as  a  five-year-old,  made  a  trial  at  Fleetwood  in  2 :31,  when  she  was  sold, 
and  has  since  been  kept  for  road  use.  Waldeu  Maid  was  placed  in  training 
in  the  spring  of  1874,  and  in  May  of  the  same  year  won  the  2 :50  purse  at 
Fleetwood  Park,  making  a  record  of  2  -.So^C  Saul  was  trained  for  a  short 
time  the  same  season,  and,  at  Poughkeepsie,  made  a  record,  in  the  four-year-old 
purse,  of  2:461-2.  He  was  in  training  again,  the  past  season,  for  about  two 
months,  and  was  driven  a  trial,  timed  by  several  persons,  in  2 :33;'4',  which  was 
improved  upon  a  few  days  later,  making  his  mile  upon  the  Poughkeepsie 
track  in  2:28.    He  won  the  five-year-old  purse  given  by  the  Hudson  River 


220  ADMINISTRATOE. 

Driving  Park  Association  for  all  five-year-olds  owned  or  bred  in  any  county 
bordering  on  the  Hucison  river,  without  making  a  better  record  than  2:41^. 
Undine,  another  five-year-old,  not  broken  to  single  harness  until  August  last, 
won  the  Duchess  county  five-year-old  purse,  making  a  record  of  2 :453^  ;  and 
a  few  days  after  made  a  record,  at  Poughkcepsie,  in  2 :42i^.  She  soon  after 
made  a  public  trial  on  the  same  track  in  2 :37i^.  Aldine,  her  mate  and  full 
sister,  was  also  unbroken  single  until  the  past  season,  and  was  not  driven  to 
harness  vmtil  August.  She  has  never  been  in  a  race,  but  was  driven  with 
Undine  to  pole,  in  2 :43i|,  with  the  greatest  ease.  Owosso,  a  handsome  and  blood- 
like brown  stallion,  also  by  Administrator,  with  his  first  training,  the  past  sea- 
son, of  about  two  months,  could  show  better  than  a  2 :28  gait.  He  has  never 
been  in  but  one  race,  which  he  won  without  making  a  better  record  than  2 :47. 
This  horse  is  veiy  fast  for  his  handling,  and  gives  promise  of  great  speed. 
William,  with  three  weeks'  training,  showed  a  mile  in  2:38  on  a  half-mile 
track.  He  has  not  been  in  training  the  past  season,  but  was  driven  by  his  owner 
over  the  Poughkeepsie  track,  to  top  buggy,  in  2:41.  Ulster  is  a  bay  stallion 
of  great  natural  speed.  He  has  been  in  training  but  a  few  weeks  since  closing 
a  season  in  the  stud,  which  enables  him  to  show  about  2:40.  "Windsor, 
Enchanter,  Administrator  Jr.,  Midnight,  Ulster  Maid,  and  many  others, 
without  training  other  than  road  use,  show  great  natural  speed,  and  help  to 
strengthen  the  very  general  prediction  of  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with 
xUlmiuistrator,  his  history  and  his  produce,  that  he  is  destined  soon  to  occupy 
a  very  high  position  among  the  most  prominent  of  American  trotting  sires. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  I  may  say  that,  having  some  information 
in  regard  to  the  quality  and  blood  of  the  mares  from  which  the  above 
were  mainly  produced,  I  am  able  to  place  the  heavy  credit  to  the  side 
of  the  sire.  Some  of  the  mares  had  crosses  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and 
some  had  the  blood  of  Mambrino  Paymaster,  and  in  some  instances 
they  had  additional  Duroc  crosses,  but  the  quality  of  the  sire's  blood 
was  evinced  in  his  complete  triumph  over  all  special  Duroc  tenden- 
cies, as  exhibited  in  every  one  of  the  above  list.  Many  of  the  same 
have  been  subjected  to  hard  usage  and  abuse  from  reckless  drivers, 
and  have  sustained  injuries,  but  in  spite  of  such  hindrances  they  are 
said  to  be  a  credit  to  any  sire. 

From  what  I  have  seen  of  his  produce,  and  from  the  speed  that  his 
colts  have  attained  already,  under  most  adverse  circumstances,  I  have 
great  confidence  in  the  success  of  this  horse  with  Kentucky-bred 
mares,  and  particularly  those  that  are  highly  bred  and  at  the  same 
time  strono"  in  tlie  Mambrino  Chief  blood. 

I  should,  in  this  connection,  deem  it  proper  to  say  more  in  regard 
to  that  blood,  and  its  special  excellences  in  a  trotting  family,  but  for 
tlie  fact  that  I  shall  not  overlook  that  branch  of  this  most  interesting-^ 
field  when  I  reach  it  in  proper  order,  as  I  shall  very  soon.     Then  will 


A   YEARLING   TROTTER.  221 

my  high  estimate  *of  tlie  composition  of  this  excellent  stallion  be 
more  clearly  understood  and  more  fully  appreciated. 

Four  years  ag-o  (1874:)  this  horse  was  taken  to  Kentucky,  and  at  once 
assumed  a  front  rank  in  the  estimation  of  Kentucky  breeders.  They 
had  become  familiar  with  the  excellence  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  family, 
and  had  already  witnessed  the  advantages  of  uniting  that  blood  with 
the  Hambletonian  strains,  which,  though  coming  from  the  common 
parentage  of  Messeng*er,  had  acquired  some  marked  points  of  differ- 
ence. This  horse,  in  his  rare  combination  of  these  two  famed  bloods, 
and  in  his  own  commanding  size  and  form,  presenting  such  a  noble 
specimen  of  the  two  families  in  one,  at  once  acquired  great  popularity, 
and  has  each  year  received  the  full  limit  of  seventy-five  or  eighty 
mares,  to  which  he  has  been  restricted  by  his  owner.  I  first  saw  his 
weanlings  in  the  month  of  October,  1874,  (bred  in  New  York),  one  of 
which  sold  at  public  sale  for  -$500 — not  quite  ninety  days  old.  In 
these  times,  when  prices  are  depressed,  and  the  country  is  full  of 
stock,  it  is  only  the  good  ones  that  call  for  such  appreciation.  I  have 
since  seen  one  of  his  fillies,  not  forty  days  old,  for  which  $(300  had 
been  oifered. 

As  before  stated,  the  first  season  of  Administrator  in  Kentucky 
was  made  in  1871.  Other  stallions  that  rank  in  the  first  class  were 
then  there  in  the  zenith  of  a  brilliant  fame,  and  it  is  not  certain  that 
Administrator  for  that  or  the  next  season  received  the  class  of  mares 
that  his  high  qualities  deserved.  In  October,  1877,  he  had  some  colts 
to  exhibit,  at  the  great  annual  meeting  of  the  Kentucky  Trotting 
Horse  Breeders'  Association,  which  is  one  of  the  great  events  of  the 
American  trotting  turf. 

A  correspondent  of  the  National  Live  Stock  Journal,  who  is 
unknown  to  me,  in  giving  a  report  of  the  event,  says: 

I  feel  warranted  in  claiming  a  part  of  your  valuable  space  for  recording  the 
most  wonderful  five  days  trotting  meeting  ever  held  in  the  West,  as  from  it 
your  readers  will  learn,  that  the  fastest  mile  ever  trotted  iu  America  by  a 
yearling,  a  two-year-old  and  a  four-year-old,  and  the  fastest  fourth  heat  by  a 
three-year-old,  were  all  made  by  colts  and  fillies  bred,  foaled,  raised  and  trained 
in  the  blue  grass  region  of  Kentucky.  I  know  it  is  contrary  to  your  custom 
to  give  detailed  reports  of  the  trotting  meetings  held  throughout  the  country ; 
yet,  as  the  above  meeting  shows  such  rapid  development  and  remarkable  speed 
in  the  yoimg  trotters,  it  certainly  deserves  more  than  a  casual  mention.  The 
meeting  was  held  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  on  the  course  of  the  Kentucky  A.  and  M. 
fair  grounds,  and  commenced  October  9,  1877. 

The  event  of  the  second  day  and  of  the  meeting  was  the  performance  of 


2:22  ADMINISTRATOR, 

Memento,  a  yearling  filly  by  Administrator,  dam  by  Alexander's  Abdallah. 
She  was  one  of  the  six  entries  in  a  trot  of  half-mile  heats,  for  a  purse  of  $450, 
given  by  Col.  Geo.  F.  Stevens,  for  yearlings,  the  get  of  his  horse.  Administra- 
tor. The  colts  were  all  large  and  well  developed,  and  exhibited  fine  bursts 
of  speed  and  powers  of  endurance.  R.  S.  Strader's  bay  filly  Memento,  won 
both  heats ;  time,  1 :38 — 1 :303^ ;  with  Cooper  and  Withers'  bay  colt  Pertinax, 
dam  by  Donerail,  second,  and  W.  H.  Murphy's  gray  colt  Gray  Jim,  dam  by 
Norman,  third.  After  this  race  was  finished.  Col.  Strader  placed  his  famous 
driver,  Bowerman,  weighing  153  lbs.,  in  a  regulation  sulky  behind  Memento, 
with  Tip  Brace's  Red  Crook  to  press  her.  The  timers,  Mr.  David  Bonner  and 
Dr.  L.  Herr,  proclaimed  the  full  mile  trotted  in  2 :56^^ ;  the  best  performance 
by  far  ever  made  by  a  yearling. 

In  company  with  many  others,  we  question  the  propriety  of  pushing  colts 
so  young ;  yet  Memento  came  in  fresh,  and  from  her  precocious  maturity  may 
not  be  hurt  by  this  trial.  The  performances  of  this  and  other  colts  of  Admin- 
istrator added  greatly  to  the  favor  in  which  he  is  held  in  Central  Kentucky. 
Rysdyk's  Hambletonian  and  Mambrino  Chief,  by  mingling  their  blood  in 
Administrator,  have  given  to  him  the  best  qualities  of  both ;  and  he,  nicked 
with  a  daughter  of  Alexander's  Abdallah,  has  produced  the  best  filly,  in  form 
and  speed,  we  have  ever  seen  behind  a  sulky.  If  2 :14  is  to  be  eclipsed,  I  think 
Administrator  and  George  Wilkes  are  the  stallions  that  now  have  the  finest 
prospects  of  wearing  the  laurels  as  the  sire  of  the  coming  wonder. 

The  same  correspondent  further  says: 

At  the  close  of  the  race,  October  18th,  Col.  Geo.F.  Stevens  permitted  Admin- 
istrator to  trot  a  mile,  for  a  wager  of  $100.  The  wager  was,  that  he  could  not 
trot  that  distance  in  2 :35  or  better.  Administrator  made  the  trial  and  beat 
the  time  by  two  seconds,  trotting  in  2 :33.  This,  I  think,  shows  well  for  an 
xm trained  horse,  just  out  of  the  stud. 

The  above  items  are  so  authoritative,  as  a  testimonial  in  favor  of 
the  correctness  of  the  views  herein  advanced,  that  I  present  them  as 
I  find  them. 

I  may  say  that  I  now  have  advices  from  Kentucky  to  the  effect  that 
this  very  remarkable  filly  is  not  to  be  allowed  to  rest  on  the  laurels 
she  has  thus  so  auspiciously  won ;  that  another  by  the  same  sire  and  of 
her  own  age  will  probably  try  conclusions  with  her  at  the  coming 
meeting  of  the  same  association.  She  is  said  to  be  a  two-year-old  of 
great  promise. 

The  popularity  of  this  stallion  now  seems  to  have  reached  its  zenith. 
No  greater  reputation  could  be  desired  for  any  animal  than  he  now 
enjoys  among  the  Kentucky  breeders,  and  the  class  of  mares  he  is 
receiving  and  the  health  and  vigor  he  maintains,  warrant  the  estimate 
that  he  will  not  be  far  surpassed,  if  surpassed  at  all,  by  any  stallion  of 
our  day — a  period  that  can  show  a  greater  degree  of  merit  in  trotting 
stallions  in  large  number  than  any  that  has  preceded  it. 


IMPRESSIVE   SIRE.  223 

If  we  look  for  great  excellence  in  any  line  of  breeding,  there  is  cer- 
tainly much  to  commend  to  our  favorable  consideration  a  large  and 
powerful  animal,  so  perfect  and  faultless  as  the  subject  of  the  present 
sketch,  when  he  is  also  the  best  and  most  perfect  combination  and 
union  of  the  two  families  that  have  given  to  this  country,  respectively, 
a  Lady  Thorn  and  a  Goldsmith  Maid.  Uniting  in  such  perfect  har- 
mony the  family  lineage  of  the  two  great  trotting  queens,  and  in 
himself  and  his  produce  overcoming  all  the  infirmities  incident  to 
•either  family,  and  displaying  so  much  of  the  combined  excellence  of 
both,  he  can  not  fail  to  ocupy  a  high  place  in  the  estimation  of  every 
American  breeder. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  these  chapters  to  call  especial  attention  to  the 
matter  of  gait,  as  illustrated  in  the  representative  stallions  selected 
for  consideration.  It  is  more  difficult  to  describe  with  intellififent 
accuracy  the  precise  gait  of  Administrator,  in  all  its  niceties,  than 
that  of  some  of  the  others  selected.  His  gait  is  not  that  of  the  aver- 
age Mambrino  Chief  family,  and  does  not  much  resemble  it,  although 
he  possesses  the  skeleton  framework  which  would  tend  to  secure  that 
gait.  His  body  is  more  muscular,  and  not  so  lathy,  and  has  not  so 
much  of  the  dry,  sinewy  form,  and  has  none  of  the  slashing  looseness 
that  characterizes  many  of  the  Mambrinos  of  the  Pilot  cross.  His 
trotting  is  to  a  fair  degree  far  reaching  before  and  behind,  but  has  not 
that  elastic  springiness  that  characterizes  the  pure  x\bdallah  gait,  nor 
the  far-reaching  rear  propellers  of  the  Clay  and  Patchen  cross;  but 
he  has  so  much  solidity,  and  is  withal  so  compact  and  muscular,  that 
his  gait,  which  is  mainly  Hambletonian  in  its  form  and  stroke,  carries 
with  it  such  an  idea  and  appearance  of  momentum,  that  we  fail  to 
classify  it  with  any  other  than  his  own.  It  must  not  be  inferred  from 
this,  however,  that  his  gait  is  lacking  in  elasticity — it  has  an  abun- 
dance of  it;  but  his  great  muscular  power  of  body  and  limb  stands 
out  as  the  prominent  feature  of  his  gait.  He  carries  his  head  out,  and 
at  a  fair  elevation,  and  his  tail  well  up — and  I  have  not  yet  seen  one 
of  his  colts  that  did  not  show  a  high  croup,  and  carry  the  tail  well  out 
and  at  a  handsome  elevation.  He  goes  forward  with  an  ajDparent  will 
and  determination  that  seem  irresistible. 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  a  word  must  be  said  on  the  question  as 
to  whether  this  horse  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  really  impressive  sire. 
When  I  first  became  acquainted  with  him  I  had  some  doubts  on  the 
subject.  Hambletonian  was  not  entitled  to  any  such  distinction.  He 
was  made  up  of  two  elements  somewhat  diverse  from  each  other,  and 
15 


224  ADMINISTRATOR. 

one  of  them  possessing  qualities  that  were  often  found  standing  in 
the  way  of  the  others.  In  Administrator  a  still  third  element,  in  very- 
powerful  and  positive  form,  is  introduced,  from  which  the  conclusion 
speedily  arose  that  if  Hambletonian  was  not  an  impressive  and  uni- 
versally successful  sire,  such  a  rank  could  hardly  be  expected  for 
Administrator.     But  the  doubt  had  superficial  foundations. 

Mambrino  Chief  was  a  sire  of  great  power  and  irapressiveness,  and 
from  his  dam,  Abdallah  would  have  produced  a  sire  perhaps  the  great- 
est we  have  ever  seen.  He  was  intensely  impressive,  and  the  Duroc- 
Messenger  field  is  one  that  offers  no  obstructions.  Not  only  would  it 
receive  every  trait  and  trotting  quality  of  the  Messenger  blood,  but  it 
was  a  current  capable  of  floating  the  Bellfounder  obstructions — and 
carrying  them  in  the  best  possible  manner — in  solution.  It  really 
dissolved  them  and  made  them  constituent  parts  of  the  ever-flowing 
sti-eam.  Such  is  the  composition  of  Administrator.  He  has  each  of 
those  combined  in  just  such  manner  as  to  render  them  all  effective. 
He  has  all  the  impressiveness  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  far  more,  for 
he  has  much  of  Abdallah;  and  he  has  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Bell- 
founder  to  unite  with  the  others,  and  he  imparts  to  his  offspring  in 
strong  degree  the  high  qualities  of  the  powerful  combination.  His 
success  with  all  classes  of  mares  is  like  that  of  Mambrino  Chief,  only 
much  stronger.  He  will  succeed  with  those  of  a  strong  caste  of 
Hambletonian  blood,  when  Mambrino  Chief  would  have  failed.  I 
part  with  him  in  this  sketch  with  the  belief  that  the  high  estimate 
placed  upon  him  by  the  Kentucky  breeders  will  be  justified  in  his 
successful  career. 

SONS   OP  ADMINISTRATOR. 

Enchanter  is  a  brown  stallion,  foaled  in  1867,  by  Administrator; 
dam  Dolly,  by  Black  Bashaw;  second  dam  by  Saladin,  son  of  Young 
Bashaw.  He  was  bred  by  Jonathan  Hawkins,  of  Orange  county,  N.  Y., 
and  is  owned  by  Powell  Bros.,  Spring,  Crawford  county.  Pa.  He 
is  undoubtedly  a  superior  horse,  and  will  make  a  valuable  stallion. 
He  is  sire  of  Valiant,  that  made  a  record  in  1877  of  2:40|-,  and  trot- 
ted second  close  to  2:30;  Irene,  another  promising  trotter,  and  of 
Ensign,  a  five-year-old,  now  owned  by  C.  A.  Lisle,  of  Burlington, 
Iowa.  The  statement  is  made  that,  with  very  little  handling,  he  has 
trotted  a  half  mile  in  1:15,  and  a  quarter  in  36  seconds;  never  han- 
dled on  a  track  until  the  present  spring.  Enchanter  is  the  only  stal- 
lion lefn  by  Administrator,  so  far  as  I  have  any  knowledge,  before  he 
went  to  Kentucky. 


SONS   OF   ADMINISTRATOE.  225 

A  brown  colt,  called  Gilt  Edge,  by  Administrator,  was  sold  Oct., 
1874,  and  is  owned  by  John  T.  Foote,  of  Norristown,  N.  J.,  that  will 
be  likely  to  be  known.  He  was  a  superior  colt,  and  his  dam  was 
•Preceptress,  by  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay  Jr.;  second  dam  was  by  Ber- 
trand.  From  the  known  excellence  of  the  dam  and  the  unusually 
promising  appearance  of  the  colt  when  young,  I  predict  for  him  the 
distinction  of  beins:  both  a  trotter  and  a  stallion  of  distinction.  His 
owner  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  he  became  such  by  outbid- 
ding an  humble  admirer  of  the  young  stallion. 

Executor,  a  brown  colt,  was  another  colt  of  the  same  year  that 
showed  great  promise.  His  dam  was  Valley  Rose,  by  Idol,  son  of 
Mambrino  Chief. 

Another  colt,  the  dam  of  which  was  Quadroon,  by  Young  Mam- 
brino, son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  is  located  at  Vinton,  Iowa,  and  was  a 
good  colt. 

Le  Grand,  a  bay  colt,  now  three  years  old,  sold  for  $1,500  to 
Messrs.  Polk,  of  Columbia,  Tenn.,  was  from  a  Mambrino  Chief  mare. 
Another,  called  Superior,  now  three  years  old,  is  in  Montana,  a  large 
and  finely  gaited  colt. 

The  excellence  of  Administrator  as  a  sire  thus  early  indicated,  and 
the  appearance  of  these  colts  at  an  early  age,  will  cause  them  to  be 
looked  to  with  interest,  as  the  first  fruits  of  a  stud  career  that  now 
creates  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  good  judges  the  impression 
that  this  stallion  will  display  an  eminence  not  often  attained. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ALHAMBRA  AND  MESSENGER  DUROC. 

I  PRESENT  In  this  chapter  two  stallions,  one  of  them  a  son  of  Mam- 
brino  Chief,  and  the  other  a  son  of  Hambletonian,  both  of  which  have 
exhibited  qualities  that  entitle  them  to  the  closest  study,  and  in  some 
respects  to  high  consideration. 

They  belong  to  the  Duroc-Messenger  class,  but  each  presents  a 
case  where  the  proper  balance  between  these  two  bloods  has  not  been 
duly  maintained — a  matter  which  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  breed- 
ing. With  regard  to  the  blood  of  all  the  great  horses  to  Avhich  we  look 
as  the  original  sources  of  trotting  blood — Messenger,  Bellfounder, 
Duroc,  St.  Lawrence,  or  the  Pilots,  and  perhaps  others — the  important 
teaching  of  experience  has  been  that  we  receive  the  best  results  from 
them,  individually  and  collectively,  in  their  remote  or  advanced  stages, 
and  after  they  have  undergone  changes  by  commingling  each  with 
the  other  or  with  different  trotting  elements. 

To  no  class  does  this  apply  with  as  much  force  as  is  sho\vn  in  the 
case  of  the  Duroc  blood.  As  these  two  stallions  present  that  blood 
in  strong  currents,  near  to  the  original  and  closely  interbred,  they  serve 
for  the  basis  of  a  lesson  far  too  important  to  the  American  breeder  to 
have  it  overlooked  or  passed  by  in  a  treatise  that  stands  out  as  authori- 
tative and  just  both  to  the  readers  and  the  owners  or  breeders. 

Alhambra  is  a  brown  horse,  low  built,  compact  and  massive,  not 
over  fifteen  hands  three  inches  in  height,  with  a  head  showing  some 
of  the  strong  outlines  of  the  family  to  which  he  belongs;  an  ear  rather 
larger  and  finer  than  they  usually  possess;  a  tail  in  later  years  becom- 
ing somewhat  thin.  He  is  round  barreled,  capacious  in  the  chest,  and 
very  wide  at  the  stifles.  From  the  thigh  or  gaskin  upward  and  in 
his  forequarters  he  is  the  model  of  strength  and  compactness.  His 
hock  is  not  good,  being  too  much  on  the  Eclipse  or  sickle  pattern, 
and  his  limbs  below  the  hocks  show   that  his   composition  is  too  fine. 

(226) 


A  LH  AM  BRA.  227 

His  working'  machinery  seems  too  fine  for  the  weight  of  carriage  ac- 
companying, and  the  powerful  muscular  organism  that  runs  the  whole. 
The  deficiency  is  far  more  apparent  when  the  powerful  nerve  and  brain 
organism  is  in  active  operation,  displaying  a  muscular  power  and 
energy  that  is  hardly  to  be  surpassed  in  any  animal  ever  seen  in 
motion.  To  see  him  in  motion,  in  harness  or  runnuig  loose,  one  gets 
the  idea  that  his  nerve  and  muscular  energy  is  far  too  great  for  any 
horse  machinery  that  has  yet  been  set  up — that  in  quality  of  materials 
and  their  construction  we  have  not  kept  pace  with  the  elements  of 
motor  energy  that  we  have  developed.  And  in  his  case  such  is  really 
the  fact. 

His  pedigree  may  be  given  thus: 

Alhambra — brown  horse,  foaled  1858,  by  Mambrino  Chief. 
First  dam,  Susaa,  by  American  Eclipse,  son  of  Duroc. 
Second  dam,   by  Woodpecker,  son  of  Bertrand. 

Third  dam,  by  Hepliestian,  son  of  Buzzard,  out  of  the  dam  of  Sir  Archy. 
Fourth  dam,  by  imp.  Bedford. 
Fifth  dam,  by  Twigg,  son  of  Janus. 

Sixth  dam,  by  Harlequin,  son  of  imp.  Gabriel,  the  rival  claimant  for  the 
paternity  of  the  great  Sir  Archy. 

It  will  be  seen  that  his  dam  was  a  strictly  thoroughbred  mare,  and 
that  the  grandam  was  by  Woodpecker,  son  of  the  great  Bertrand, 
whose  grandam  was  imported  Mambrina  by  Mambrino  the  sire  of 
Messenger;  Woodpecker  was  also  sire  of  the  great  and  almost  invin- 
cible Grey  Eagle,  the  pride  of  Kentucky,  and  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished race-horses  that  ever  ran  on  American  soil. 

In  arriving  at  a  correct  understanding  of  Alhambra,  we  must  at  all 
times  keep  in  view  the  fact  that,  in  addition  to  the  fineness  of  her 
breeding,  his  dam  was  not  a  large  mai-e — was  indeed  hardly  an 
average-size4  thoroughbred,  while  his  sire  Mambrino  Chief  was  a  very 
large  and  coarse-boned  horse,  over  sixteen  hands  high,  strong  and 
heavy  in  every  part.  Had  the  respective  positions  of  these  conditions 
as  to  sex  of  the  parents  been  reversed  in  the  make-up  of  the  horse, 
Alhambra  would  have  been  different. 

Messenger  Duroc  is  a  rich  bay  stallion,  foaled  June  3d,  1865.  His 
marks  are  two  white  hind  ankles.  His  exact  size  may  be  taken  as 
given  out  by  his  owners:  Sixteen  hands  one  inch  on  the  withers,  and 
sixteen  hands  two  inches  at  the  coupling  or  over  the  hips.  His 
weight  is  given  as  1,175  to  1,200  pounds.  He  is  called,  in  a  sketch 
sent  forth   by  his  owner,  a  large-featured,  well-proportioned  horse  of 


228  ALHAMBRA   AND   MESSENGER  DUROO. 

substance  and  power,  with  g,  head  large  and  long,  a  Roman  profile  and 
countenance  mild  and  pleasant ;  neck  slightly  ewed,  of  medium 
length;  shoulders  deep,  broad  and  strong;  girth  deep  and  with  plenty 
of  heart  room  ;  somewhat  flat  on  the  rib;  loin  arched  and  strong,  and 
coupled  well  back;  his  hips  rather  prominent,  and  the  propelling  point 
beneath  so  conspicuously  developed  that  his  powerful  quarters  and 
stifles,  and  large  bony  hocks,  hung  near  the  ground,  attract  immediate 
attention.  Altogether  he  is  a  plain  horse,  but  with  a  look  of  use- 
fulness about  him  that  compensates  for  some  lack  in  finish. 

To  the  above   description  I   may  subjoin   my  own,  as  originally 
published.     He  has  a  full  mane,  and  a  long  and  heavy  tail  hanging  on 
the  ground;  he  has  a  large  and  coarse  head,  a  neck  large  enough,  and 
yet,  for  so  large  a  horse,  it  has  some  of  the  form  known  as  ewe  neckj 
his  withers  stand  a  little  higher  than  the   average   Hambletonian  pat- 
tern; he  is  somewhat  flat-ribbed,  and  his  hips  are  strong  and  prom- 
inent.    Those  who  have  written  about  him  have  generally  called  him 
coarse  in  his  outline,  and  this  has  been  generally  attributed  to  the 
double  share  of  the  Abdallah  blood  which  he  possesses.     This  is  not 
wholly  correct.     The  Abdallah  blood  is  strong  in  him,  and  the  Bell- 
founder  is  not  wholly  obliterated,  although  it  has  been  greatly  over- 
matched in  his  outward  form.     The  vital   force  of  the    blood  is  still 
there,  and  has  yet  a  good  share  in  the  general   combination.     There 
are  other  blood  elements,  however,  of  a  very  powerful  nature,  and 
qviite   positive    in    their    character,    which    assert  a   large    share    of 
control    in  his   composition.     He   has  many    of   the  elements   of  a 
great  trotting  stallion,  and  he  has  other  elements  which  will  greatly 
mar  his  success   in  that   field.     He  has  an  element  of  Duroc    blood, 
which  has  always  been  noted  for  trotting  excellence,  and,  when  in 
proper  limit  and  combination,  is  entitled  to  the  highest  consideration 
as  a  trottiiie:  constituent.     His  Abdallah  blood  carries  with  it  the  full 
force,  and  much  of  the  high  trotting  quality  of  that  unsurpassed  element, 
while  his  Bellfounder  strains,  though  struggling  against  superior  odds, 
show  at  times  their  superb  trotting  excellence,  and  retain  a  large 
influence   over  the   general   trotting  impulses  of  this  horse  and  his 
off"spriiig,  and  give  to  him  and  his  produce  much  of  the  peculiar  and 
unmistakable    trotting   quality    for    which   the   Bellfounder  cross    is 
noted.     While  in  color   and  markings  the    Bellfounder   element  of 
Hambletonian  has  triumphed  in  this  horse,  in  the  matter  of  form  and 
outward  conformation  its  power  is  overmatched  and  compelled  to  yield 
in  great  part  to  the  other  two  blood  forces  which  always  run  well 


MESSEITGER  DTJROC.  229 

together  and  into  any  other  channels  with  a  facility  not  known  to  the 
more  fickle  Bellfounder.  The  force  of  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  his 
case  is  quite  like  that  in  the  Hambletonians  of  the  Star  cross — not  in 
any  way  impaired  as  respects  the  trotting  quality,  however  it  may  be 
as  to  other  bearings  of  that  blood  force. 

It  will  be  seen  further  along  that,  in  his  produce  he  does  not  assert 
the  Bellfounder  preference  for  color  that  distinguished  his  sire  and 
the  Hambletonian  family  generally. 

In  the  matter  of  size,  he  is  above  the  true  roadster  model. 

He  is  too  large,  unless  the  quality  of  horseflesh  was  advanced 
at  the  same  rate  that  his  physical  proportions  were  increased.  A 
horse  15  hands  3  inches  is  as  large  as  any  one  needs,  if  we  consult  the 
statistics  of  the  great  performers.  Some  wish  a  horse  not  less  than 
16  hands;  but,  for  trotting  or  road  purposes,  I  will  say  that  I  do  not 
want  to  go  beyond  that  height,  and  prefer  to  stop  one  inch  short  of  it. 
In  addition,  I  have  generally  observed  that,  as  we  increase  the  size 
above  that  figure,  we  detract  from  the  quality  instead  of  adding  to  it, 
as  is  required  if  we  retain  merit  in  the  large  horse  in  proportion  to 
his  size.  I  would  rather  breed  from  mares  that  were  large,  and  from 
a  compact,  densely-built  stallion  a  little  under  the  size  that  I  desired 
to  reach,  than  to  select  a  stallion  that  was  above  the  size  that  I 
desired  to  reproduce  in  the  horse  to  be  bred.  An  over-sized  stallion 
is  always  objectionable,  unless  the  aim  is  to  breed  horses  of  large 
size,  and  having  no  reference  to  the  quality  or  the  purpose  for  which 
the  animal  is  to  be  used. 

It  is  true  there  is  a  popular  demand  for  large  horses,  and  that  owing 
to  close  in-breeding  and  other  causes,  there  is  a  dwarfing  tendency  in 
the  growth  of  horses  in  some  parts  of  our  country  that  must  be  met. 
Hence,  a  large  and  rangy  horse  is  in  great  degree  popular.  Never- 
theless, for  the  great  performer  or  the  reproducer,  give  me  the  compact, 
closely  built  horse  of  not  above  the  size  of  fifteen  and  three-quarter 
hands,  and  not  above  1,150  lbs.  in  weight.  It  will  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  Messenger  Duroc  is  not  as  heavy  a  horse  as  his  proportions 
would  indicate. 

The  following  pedigree  has  been  given  by  the  owner  of  Messenger 
Duroc,  and  often  vouched  for  as  strictly  authentic: 

Messenger  Duroc — b.  s.,  16  hands,  white  hiad  ankles,  foaled  June  3,  1805, 
got   by  Hambletonian. 
First  dam,  Satinet,  foaled  1854,  by  Roe's  Abdallah  Chief. 
Second  dam,  Catbird,  foaled  1834,  by  Whistle  Jacket. 


230  ALIIAMBRA   AND   MESSKNGER   DUROC. 

ThircT  dam,  Lyon  Mare,  by  Bertholf  Horse. 

Fourth  dam  by  Duroc,  son  of  imp.  Diomed 
Hambletouian,  by  Abdallah. 

First  dam,  Charles  Kent  Mare,  by  imp.  BjUfounder. 

Second  dam,  One  Eye,  by  Bishop's  Hambletonian. 

Third  dam,  Silvertail,  by  imp.  Messenger. 
Abdallah,  by  Mambrino,  son  of  imp.  Messenger. 

Dam,  Amazonia,  by  son  of  imp.  Messenger. 
Hambletonian  (Bishop's),  by  imp.  Messenger. 

First  dam,  Pheasant,  by  imp.  Shark. 

Second  dam  by  imp.  Medley. 
Abdallah  Chief  (Roe's),  by  Abdallah,  son  of  Mambrino. 

First  dam  by  Phillips,  son  of  Duroc. 

Second  dam  by  Decatur,  thoroughbred  son  of  Henry. 
Whistle  Jacket,  by  Mambrino,  son  of  imp.  Messenger. 

First  dam  by  American  Eclipse. 

Second  dam  by  Bertholf  Horse. 
Bertholf  Horse,  by  imp.  Messenger. 

The  striking  feature  of  this  pedigree,  as  has  been  remarked  tnanj 
times,  is  the  great  number  of  times  it  runs  to  Messenger  and  Duroc, 
the  two  horses  from  which  he  takes  his  name.  The  dam  of  Decatur 
was  by  American  Eclipse,  a  son  of  Duroc,  his  second  dam  was  by 
]3uroc — which,  with  the  other  Hnes,  makes  his  blood  run  to  Messenger 
seven  times,  including  two  to  Abdallah,  five  times  to  Duroc,  and 
once  to  Bellfounder.  This  is  truly  remarkable  breeding — remarkaljle 
for  the  many  excellences  it  embraces,  as  well  as  for  the  defects  that 
it  re-unites  and  so  often  blends  with  the  great  qualities  of  the  combi- 
nation. With  such  a  combination,  he  should  be  a  trotter  and  a  sire 
of  trotters,  for  no  pedigree  can  be  found  in  all  the  annals  of  breeding 
that  embraces  thirteen  crosses  of  such  trotting  strains  as  those  of 
Messenger,  Bellfounder  and  Duroc,  almost  unmixed  with  any  other 
elements;  and  when  we  look  to  the  external  form,  the  conformation 
of  part  with  part,  as  shown  in  his  measurements,  it  will  be  seen  that 
he  has  the  trotting  measurement  in  a  degree  unsurpassed  by  any. 

I  have  before  said  the  Bellfounder  blood  is  present  in  him,  and 
shows  much  of  its  richness  and  lustre.  These  are  the  crosses  in  which 
it  always  excels.  It  is  not  easy  to  efface  it  entirely,  although  in  hinx 
it  is  greatly  over-matched.  That  of  Abdallah  and  Messenger  is  in 
chief  control,  and  in  his  subsequent  crosses  in  and  out  will  most  likely 
assert  a  supremacy,  as  that  is  the  known  character  of  this  blood,  and 
in  addition,  in  our  trotters  as  now  bred,  it  is  more  likely  to  be  rein- 
forced than  to  find  new  forces  of  the  Duroc  element.  It  would  seenx 
he  had  about  all  that  could  be  found  in  this  country  already. 


ALHAMBRA.  231 

Alhambra  and  Messenger  Duroc,  in  their  physical  organism,  are 
made  up  differently,  owing  to  the  difi'erence  in  the  quality  and 
make-up  of  the  various  animals  that  have  entered  into  their  several 
and  respective  pedigrees,  but  the  prominent  and  chief  blood  traits  or 
characteristics  of  the  two  are  essentially  alike.  Alhambra  is  a  horse 
of  a  very  superior  muscular  organism.  His  body  is  formed  for  displays 
of  strength  and  energy  vastly  greater  than  his  machinery  of  limb  and 
leverage  are  able  to  execute  with  due  regard  to  safety.  His  ord- 
nance is  of  a  weight  and  quality  far  too  great  for  the  strength  and 
quality  of  the  carriage  on  which  it  is  mounted. 

He  was  the  result  of  a  cross  between  two  animals  too  extreme  and 
distant  in  their  construction.  Had  his  dam  been  a  part-bred  mare, 
larger  and  coarser,  but  possessing  the  essential  blood  elements  of  this 
mare  Susan,  he  would  have  been  a  far  different  horse — not  lacking  any- 
thing in  his  essential  character,  but  of  vastly  more  endurance  and 
power.  His  sire  was  the  extreme  of  coarseness  and  his  dam  the  perfec- 
tion of  fineness,  even  to  a  degree  of  delicacy.  Besides,  Alhambra 
lacks  in  leverage.  He  is  a  low-built  horse,  and  short  from  his  hip  to 
his  hock,  not  over  thirty-nine  inches,  while  his  thigh  is  the  full  Eclipse 
and  Duroc  pattern  of  twenty-four  inches.  His  muscular  power  in 
body  and  quarters  is  immense,  hardly  surpassed  anywhere. 

His  advance  or  propelling  power  does  not  consist  in  the  sweep  or 
range  of  his  leverage  as  much  as  in  the  extreme  of  muscular  energy. 
He  does  not  display  the  long  sweeping  strides  of  Lady  Thorn  or  of 
Bodine,  but  goes  with  a  plunge  and  a  stroke  that  is  simply  terrific. 

His  muscular  action  is  violent  and  swift,  his  stroke  not  so  much 
marked  by  its  precision  and  steadiness,  like  that  of  Abdallah,  as  its 
vigor  and  plunging  energy.  When  he  trots,  it  looks  as  though  some- 
thing must  break. 

He  is  not  lacking  in  steadiness  or  brain  balance — he  has  that  in 
full  volume;  but  his  limb  machinery  is  wholly  inadequate  in  strength 
and  in  leverage  for  the  immense  concentration  of  power  that  he  brings 
to  bear  upon  it. 

The  character  and  qualities  by  him  displayed  belong  also  to  his 
stock;  wherein  he  excels,  they  excel,  and  wherein  he  is  lacking,  they 
are  deficient. 

Alhambra  was  bred  by  the  late  R.  A.  Alexander,  the  distinguished 
breeder  of  Kentucky,  whose  high  character  as  a  gentleman  of  integ- 
rity and  great  sagacity  is  known  all  over  the  continent.  He  was 
equally  distinguished  for  his  high  appreciation  of  horse  breeding  as 


iS32  ALHAMBRA   AND   MESSENGER  DUROC. 

one  of  the  most  elevated  and  useful  pursuits  that  could  be  honored  by 
a  true  gentleman  and  man  of  refined  tastes  and  ample  fortune.  He 
gave  a  certificate  stating  that  after  having  sold  Alhambra  (being  a 
very  large  breeder)  he  thought  so  well  of  him  that  in  eight  months 
therealfter  he  repurcloased  him  for  two  thousand  dollars — four  times 
the  price  at  which  he  had  sold  him.  He  says  his  trainer  failed  to  keep 
him  steady,  but  at  times  he  showed  almost  a  two-minute  gait. 

While  Alhambra  was  in  no  respect  lacking  in  true  brain  balance,  it 
is  very  clear  to  my  mind  that  with  his  short  leverage  and  immense 
propelling  power,  it  would  be  a  task  next  to  impossible  to  keep  him 
steady.  It  was  for  reasons  physical — not  those  of  nerve  or  tempera- 
7nent.  It  was  for  the  same  reason  that  Smuggler  requires  the 
immense  weight  to  keep  him  in  true  ballast  for  his  prodigious  displays 
— a  physical  orgaiiism  that  is  not  suited  for  such  a  rate  of  speed  at  the 
trotting  gait. 

Alhambra  soon  showed  a  capacity  to  trot  in  2:30,  and  an  organism 
of  muscle  and  brain  power  capable  of  a  rate  of  speed  far  greater  than 
liis  machinery  could  endure. 

Alhambra  has  produced  some  colts  that  gave  great  promise  of  dis- 
tinction, but  like  himself  are  unable  to  hold  out.  They  at  an  early 
age  showed  an  aptitude  for  trotting,  and  an  organism  full  of  speed  and 
nervous  energy,  but  a  physical  conformation  not  sufficient  to  endure 
severe  training.  They  had  more  energy  than  they  could  carry,  and 
for  this  reason  came  short  of  the  expectations  of  their  breeders  in 
almost  every  instance. 

Other  causes  arising  from  their  in-breeding  in  the  Duroc  blood,  yet 
to  be  noticed,  have  greatly  lowered  them  in  popular  esteem — their 
merit  was  great  and  attractive,  but  their  deficiency  was  so  much 
greater  that  their  fame  has  lost  much  of  the  lustre  with  which  they 
began  their  career.  They  were  early,  precocious  and  exceedingly 
promising,  but  could  not  endure  the  amount  of  work  necessary  to 
bring  them  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  as  great  trotters.  They 
seemed  to  have  all  the  natural  elements  of  a  great  family,  but  when 
subjected  to  the  severe  test  of  hard  work  and  training,  they  were 
found  to  possess  a  physical  organism  that  could  not  hold  out.  There 
was  in  their  composition  an  element  that  could  not  endure  friction 
without  betraying  weakness. 

Messenger  Duroc,  while  showing  the  predominant  traits  of  the  cross 
from  which  he  comes,  differs  from  Alhambra  in  several  particulars, 
both  as  a  trotter  and  a  breeder,  but  in  the  traits  above  referred  to,  he 


MESSENGER  DUROC.  233 

and  his  produce  show  a  Hkeness  to  those  of  the  other  family  that 
stamps  them  as  of  one  blood  and  a  common  kinship,  although  coming 
from  different  sires. 

In  Messenger  Duroc  there  was  not  the  wide  discrepancy  between 
the  physical  conformation  of  the  sire  and  dam,  and  in  the  antecedent 
-crosses.  On  the  dam's  side  it  was  successive  unions  of  the  blood 
of  Messenger  and  Duroc  for  several  generations,  each  coming  in  part 
through  animals  that  were  not  strictlv  thorouo-hbred. 

Moreover,  the  sire  in  this  case  was  not  one  of  the  coarseness  and 
lack  of  quality  displayed  by  Mainbrino  Chief. 

While  Messenger  Duroc  has  not  the  muscular  power  in  small  com- 
pass that  marks  Alhambra,  he  has  a  vastly  superior  leverage  or 
machinery  with  which  to  execute  the  impulses  that  propel  the  muscu- 
lar organism.  His  great  frame-work  is  built  on  the  true  model  for 
one  of  the  grandest  trotters  on  a  large  scale  we  have  anywhere  seen. 
For  the  far-reaching,  great  striding,  and  free,  open  stepping  gait  of 
the  trotter,  he  has  a  form  and  physical  conformation  not  surpassed  by 
any  we  have  yet  produced  in  any  family.  Had  Lady  Thorn  raised  a 
son  from  Hambletonian  as  the  sire,  we  might  have  expected  a  horse 
showing  a  conformation  equal  lo  that  of  Messenger  Duroc  or  any 
other.  The  stallion  Administrator  comes  the  closest  and  in  some 
respects  even  surpasses  him,  but  not  in  leverage. 

The  similarity  between  Messenger  Duroc  and  Administrator  is 
greater  than  any  other  two  sons  of  Hambletonian,  yet  the  diiferences, 
simply  those  of  direction  and  degree  in  certain  particulars,  make  them 
vndely  diflFerent  both  in  themselves  and  in  their  produce.  The  differ- 
ence in  size,  conformation  and  blood  constituents  is  not  so  orreat  as  in 
the  tendencies  or  workings  of  those  same  blood  elements.  Both  are 
made  up  almost  essentially  in  character  of  the  blood  constituents  of 
Messenger,  Duroc  and  Bellfounder.  But  it  is  not  an  uncommon  thing 
for  the  blood  of  one  animal  to  work  one  way  in  one  organization,  and 
a  very  different  way  in  another,  almost  identical  in  the  constituent 
factors  embraced  in  the  union.  The  dam  of  Ohio  Bellfounder  was 
almost  a  fac-simile  in  blood  of  the  dam  of  the  Charles  Kent  mare;  but 
Hambletonian,  in  his  great  family,  represents  the  one,  and  nothing 
represents  the  other.  It  was  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  that  made  the 
difference  in  each  case. 

The  immense  trotting  leverage  of  Messenger  Duroc  is  shown  in  a 
length  of  41  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  and  a  thigh  25^-  inches.  No 
stallion  in  America  can  surpass  him  in   the  02:>en  display  of  a  free, 


234  ALHAMBRA   AND   MESSENGER   DUROC. 

sweeping  gait.  His  manner  of  going  was  so  attractive  at  an  early 
day  as  to  create  impressions  favorable  to  his  greatness  as  a  trotting 
sire;  and  on  one  occasion,  when  his  owner  had  offered  him  for  sale  at 
$10,000,  and  he  was  in  harness  for  exhibition  to  expectant  purchasers, 
his  grand  "  opening  out,"  as  they  termed  it,  was  such  that  his  owner 
Avithdrew  him  before  the  applicants  had  time  to  signify  their  accept- 
ance of  the  horse  at  the  price  named. 

The  qualities  here  on  this  occasion  exhibited  were  simply  those  of 
gait  and  apparent  capacity  for  speed,  not  actual  speed  itself.  The 
horse  has  not  probably  ever  shown  as  great  speed  as  Alhambra,  and 
it  is  often  said  his  owner  does  not  know  how  fast  he  can  go.  But 
there  is  reason  to  believe  he  has  never  yet  gone  fast  enough  to  show 
great  speed,  whatever  may  have  been  his  capacity. 

His  breeding  and  his  way  of  going  both  justified  the  opinion  that 
he  would  make  a  successful  sire,  and  that  his  produce  would  display 
great  aptitude  for  the  trotting  gait.  Such  was  my  own  opinion  of 
him  as  early  as  1871,  when  I  first  saw  him,  and  when  his  owner  did 
not  esteem  him  so  highly  as  another  son  of  Hambletonian  that  he  ha& 
since  passed  out  of  his  breeding  establishment.  I  then  selected  him 
as,  iu  my  opinion,  the  great  trotting  stallion  of  the  Hambletonian 
family,  and  on  the  strength  of  this  opinion  subsequently  gave  him  my 
patronage,  although  I  had  at  the  first  some  cause  for  fearing  there 
might  be  some  inherent  offset  to  his  prepossessing  form  and  great 
trotting  promise. 

He  has  now  been  before  the  public  more  prominently  for  the  past 
few  years  than  any  other  horse  in  the  country.  The  correspondents 
and  journals  have  each  vied  with  the  other  in  their  efforts  to  induce 
the  public  to  place  upon  him  an  estimate  higher  than  ever  before 
placed  on  another  of  his  years.  He  has  been  advertised  in  a  manner 
to  excite  in  the  popular  mind  the  very  highest  opinion  of  his  merits. 
His  lists  of  mares  have  been  announced  to  be  full,  at  a  high  price^ 
and  when  an  additional  list  was  to  be  admitted,  at  a  still  higher  price^ 
the  annoimcement  had  hardly  reached  distant  parts  of  the  country 
until  it  was  followed  by  another,  declaring  the  enlarged  list  to  be  also 
full.  Of  course  such  a  flood  tide  of  popularity  could  only  be  met^ 
and  that  but  partially,  by  an  increase  in  price,  and  so  it  went  from 
$100  to  $200,  and  finally  to  $300. 

It  has,  since  the  date  above  referred  to,  transpired  that  his  limbs 
have  been  found  lacking  in  quality,  or  rather  possessing  certain  traits 
that  now  j^romise  to  dim  the  splendor  of  the  great  expectations  with 
which  he  started  out. 


MESSENGER  DUEOC.  235 

I  believe  it  is  understood  that  Messenger  Duroc  has  never  spent 
much  time,  in  actual  work  upon  road  or  ti-ack.  He  is  yet  young,  and 
if  he  has  limbs  that  would  endure  such  work  it  might  set  at  rest  some 
<ioubts,  if  he  could  be  worked  for  a  few  seasons,  and  show  that  his 
fibre  was  of  the  sort  that  enjoyed  it.  It  would  be  a  satisfaction  to 
some,  doubtless,  to  know  if  his  cellular  tissue  could  stand  friction 
without  irritation;  and  further,  if  he  has  that  health  of  joint  that  will 
take  up  and  absorb  all  the  synovial  fluids  he  secretes.  I  think  there 
is  some  room  for  apprehension  on  this  branch  of  the  subject.  The 
first  time  I  ever  saw  him  he  had  just  been  severely  blistered  on  both 
of  his  hind  ankles,  and  the  appearance  of  his  limbs  and  hocks  at  that 
time  suggested  to  my  mind  doubts  which  have  increased  on  seeing 
him  and  some  of  his  produce  since  that  time.  I  have  long  since 
heard  that  his  produce  were,  many  of  them,  not  quite  satisfactory  in 
regard  to  the  health  and  soundness  of  their  limbs.  Since  the  appear- 
ance of  my  original  chapter  relating  to  this  horse  it  has  been  a  matter 
of  public  notoriety  that  his  stock  were  in  very  large  numbers  un- 
sound, and  showing  out  the  defective  tendencies  to  which  I  called 
attention. 

The  high  trotting  quality  displayed  by  them,  and  their  robust, 
growthy  natures  and  generally  good  disposition,  had  led  their  breeders 
to  anticipate  the  highest  results,  yet  the  great  prevalence  of  defects  so 
serious  and  so  incurable  has  had  the  effect  to  cast  down  many  other- 
wise brilliant  hopes.  The  seat  of  these  defects  is  to  be  found  in  an 
unsound  element  which  has  been  deeply  bred  in,  and  can  not  readily 
be  eradicated.  It  is  certain  this  taint  does  not  reside  in  the  Abdallah 
or  Bellfounder  blood,  or  the  other  Messenger  crosses  which  abound 
in  this  horse.  Messenger  and  his  family  had  a  certain  kind  of  coarse- 
ness about  them,  but  when  un  contaminated  by  other  and  baser  blood, 
it  was  not  a  coarseness  that  ran  to  disease  or  unsoundness.  They 
were  a  synonym  for  health  and  soundness,  although  sometimes  rough 
in  outward  form. 

"Whence,  then,  does  he  derive  this  peculiarity  which  is  likely  to  dim 
the  lustre  of  one  of  the  most  promising  of  the  Hambletonian 
families? 

I  do  not  care  to  dwell  on  this  subject,  but  will  answer  the  question 
by  reference  to  that  part  of  Chapter  V  where  I  have  given  an  account 
of  the  stallion  Duroc,  son  of  Diomed.  It  is  a  fact  now  clearly  under- 
stood by  all  intelligent  and  well  informed  horsemen  that  these  defects 
in  the  Duroc-Messenger  families   came   ft-om  too  close  in-breeding  in 


236  ALHAMBRA    AND   MESSENGER  DUROC. 

the  blood  of  Duroc.  It  was  a  blood  of  great  value  in  the  union  witb 
that  of  Messenger,  but  it  will  not  in  many  cases  bear  to  be  closely  in- 
bred. The  great  defect  with  Alhambra  and  his  produce  was  identical 
with  the  case  of  this  stallion  Messenger  Duroc,  the  Eclipse  and  Mam- 
brino  Chief  blood  brought  out  the  infirm  tendencies  of  the  Duroc 
blood  in  too '  great  force.  The  result  was,  the  family  gained  an  un- 
favorable reputation. 

Messenger  Duroc  has  even  more  of  the  Duroc  blood  than  Alham- 
bra. It  is  so  strong  that  in  spite  of  the  powerful  and  generally 
prevailing  trait  of  color  in  the  family  descendants  of  Hambletonian,. 
Messenger  Duroc  produces  a  great  many  light  chestnuts. 

I  found  it  to  be  ray  duty  to  call  attention  to  the  deep-seated  cause 
and  origin  of  these  injurious  qualities  in  the  first  publication  of  my 
sketches,  and  it  is  apparent  that  a  great  change  has  already  been 
wrought  in  the  popular  estimate  of  the  value  of  this  stallion  as  a  sire. 
It  is  but  just  that  in  thus  speaking  of  the  ill-founded  rejDutation  of 
these  two  stallions  and  the  decline  of  that  fame,  I  should  say  a  word 
further.  In  the  case  of  Alhambra  he  was  owned  by  a  gentleman  of 
means  who  went  into  the  breeding  business  from  a  sincere  love  of  it. 
He  had  large  means,  and  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  Eclipse  blood, 
and  to  his  own  enthusiasm  in  that  direction,  in  great  part,  is  due  the 
utter  failure  of  his  horse.  His  ill  repute  was  greatly  increased  from 
the  fact  that  he  had  so  many  mares  bred  in  the  same  blood.  The 
horse  had  so  many  excellent  and  truly  admirable  qualities  that  to  a 
man  of  such  a  genuine  enthusiasm  he  was  the  ideal  of  equine  great- 
ness.    He  has  seen  the  error,  however,  in  the  results. 

It  must  be  apparent  by  this  time  to  all  intelligent  breeders,  that 
the  only  objection  that  can  be  taken  to  either  of  these  two  stallions 
which  alike  possess  so  much  merit,  is  founded  on  the  fact  that  they  are 
too  closely  bred  in  the  Duroc  blood.  The  blood  itself  shows  its  great 
value  in  so  many  of  the  first  horses  we  have  ever  bred,  that  it  would 
of  itself  carry  in  its  own  excellence  the  temptation  to  breed  it  too 
close  and  strong. 

The  success  of  the  Volunteer  family  undoubtedly  lay  in  the  fact 
that  the  Duroc  strains  so  operated  on  the  Messenger  as  to  let  out 
the  riches  of  the  Bellfounder  blood.  The  entire  family  of  American 
Star  and  the  Star-Hambletonians,  Gov.  Sprague,  and  Rhode  Island 
his  sire,  the  Thorndales  and  Almonts,  and  all  of  the  families  of 
Mambrino  Chief,  Administrator,  Blackwood  and  Swigert,  all  owe 
their  greatness  to  this  union  of  the  blood  of  Duroc  and  Messenger; 


A  TROTTING   SIRE.  237 

but  its  hio-liest  excellences  are  shown  when  the  Duroc  force  is 
remote. 

In  this  stallion  Messenger  Duroc,  laying  out  of  view  the  one  bad 
feature  of  this  blood,  the  good  qualities  of  the  union  are  exhibited 
in  a  degree  never  yet  reached  in  any  horse  we  have  seen  on  this 
continent.  The  various  unions  of  which  he  was  constituted  were 
somewhat  removed  from  the  strictly  thoroughbred,  which  was  in  his 
favor.  Road  elements  were  early  introduced,  and  at  all  stages  formed 
a  larare  share  of  his  constituents.  This  had  the  effect  on  both  the 
Duroc  and  the  Messenger  to  present  these  strains  with  their  trotting 
tendencies  in  a  constant  state  of  progressive  development,  and  the 
opposite  or  galloping  tendencies  of  two  bloods  originally  thoroughbred 
constantly  falling  into  the  retrograde.  In  this  manner,  while  in  a  high 
state  of  development,  these  Duroc-Messenger  strains  united  with  the 
Bellfounder- Messenger  from  Hambletonian,  and  the  result,  as  seen  in 
Messenger  Duroc,  must  be  acknowledged  as  the  highest  exhibition 
of  royal  trotting  blood  ever  seen  in  this  country.  This  must  be  clearly 
conceded.  The  three  elements  are  there  combined  in  that  horse  in 
a  degree  of  excellence — trotting  quality  only  being  considered — - 
nowhere  yet  approached  in  any  other  stallion.  Moreover,  the  respec- 
tive channels  through  which  these  several  unions  approached  were 
pre-eminently  the  best  that  could  have  been  selected.  The  dam  of 
Messenger  Duroc  was  a  daughter  of  Abdallah  Chief,  a  son  of 
Abdallah. 

If  the  Duroc  strains  in  this  pedigree  had  been  limited  to  those 
contained  in  Abdallah  Chief,  and  the  Messenger  crosses  in  the  back- 
ground had  still  been  maintained,  the  superiority  of  the  horse  would 
have  been  unquestionable. 

As  a  sire  it  is  apparent  that  the  Duroc  blood  is  in  masterly  suprem- 
acy, but,  as  above  premised,  laying  aside  the  unfavorable  aspects  of 
this  element,  and  looking  only  to  the  trotting  qualities  displayed,  it 
must  be  acknowledged  by  all  that  he  is  an  extraordinary  breeder. 
He  started  off  not  as  the  favorite  in  the  stud  where  he  is  owned,  but 
he  soon  left  the  favorite  in  the  distance.  His  list  includes  Prospero, 
2:20,  and  eight  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Hogarth,  a  four-year-old, 
2:26,  and  three  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Elaine,  a  filly  three  years  old, 
with  record  of  2:28,  one  second  better  than  lliady  Stout,  the  Kentucky 
favorite;  Reform,  Dame  Trot,  Mansfield,  Helen  Russell,  McClure, 
Miranda,  Marengo  and  Philosopher,  with  others  whose  names  I  have 
not  at  hand — no  list  or  materials  for  this  sketch  having  been  supplied 


238  ALHAMBllA.   AND   MESSENGER   DUROC. 

for  my  use.  His  produce  are  regarded  by  all  as  showing  an  early 
promise  of  trotting  excellence.  Earliness  of  development  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  Duroc-Messenger  class. 

Notwithstanding  the  precocity  and  apparent  excellence  of  his  pro- 
duce, it  must  be  taken  as  an  absolute  certainty  that  they  can  not 
endure  the  severe  work  that  all  recognize  as  necessary  to  bring  them 
to  the  highest  perfection  as  performers.  The  high  rates  of  speed 
shown  by  them  will  now  and  then  appear,  but  the  same  performers  can 
not  be  relied  upon  for  constant  capability  or  for  continuous  advance- 
ment. They  will  not  include  any  of  the  character  of  Goldsmith  Maid 
and  Rarus.  When  his  daughters,  properly  selected,  shall  have  been 
coupled  with  the  best  of  other  trotting  stallions,  noted  for  strength 
and  inherent  health,  the  best  and  most  valuable  results  from  his  blood 
can  be  reached — not  in  his  own  immediate  produce,  but  in  the  more 
a,dvanced  stages  of  breeding,  when  we  shall  have  had  opportunity  to 
practice  on  selections  and  crosses  thus  to  be  made.  I  should  value  a 
daughter  of  Messenger  Duroc  in  my  breeding  plans,  and  believe  that 
I  could  select  a  mating  that  would  vindicate  in  its  results  the  correct- 
ness of   the  opinion  above  expressed. 

His  greatest  success  hitherto  has  been  with  mares  by  Sayer's  Harry 
Clay — a  valuable  testimony  to  the  meritorious  combination  of  which 
they  are  made,  and  a  clear  proof  that  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  his 
composition  is  not  a  nominal  nor  a  dormant  factor,  but  one  that  is 
present  and  ojoerative  in  full  force,  and  ready,  on  receiving  a  proper 
reinforcement,  to  display  the  power  and  quality  of  the  elements  that 
have  come  down  from  the  fabled  Norfolk  trotter. 

This  horse  Messenger  Duroc  will  excel,  as  he  has  already  proved, 
with  mares  that  go  back  strongly  toward  the  Bellfounder  blood.  That 
blood  always  nicked  well  with  the  Duroc  strains;  the  royal  trotting 
quality  of  the  one  was  hardly  surpassed  by  that  of  the  other.  His 
colts  are  all  young,  and  thus  far  he  has  not  shown  any  great  promise 
except  with  mares  that  run  back  to  Bellfovnider,  either  through  Harry 
Clay,  or  Hambletonian,  or  some  other  source.  It  must  be  kept  in 
mind  that  he  has  not  yet  gained  any  repute  for  colts  by  any  other  class 
of  mares — a  very  remarkable  testimony  in  favor  of  the  meritorious 
qualities  of  the  Bellfounder  blood;  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
his  opportunities,  for  the  time  he  has  been  in  the  stud,  have  far  sur- 
passed those  of  any  other  stallion  that  ever  stood  in  America.  He  has 
had  access  to  the  best  Star  and  in-bred  Messenger  mares,  the  dams  of 
many  great  celebrities,  besides  others  of  diiferent  lines  of  blood;  he 


HISTORY   WILL   DECIDE.  239 

has  stood  at  the  topmost  figure;  liis  list  has  been  announced  as  full 
and  again  full ;  and  in  the  face  of  all  this,  his  chief  reputation  for  sound 
and  promising  trotters  rests  on  the  produce  of  mares  of  this  Bellfounder 
blood.  His  produce  will  be  most  likely  to  run  strongly  after  the  Ab- 
clallah  tyjie.  I  have  observed  that  in  all  the  in-bred  Hambletonians 
the  Abdallah  form  has  the  ascendancy.  It  is  manifested  in  the  increase 
of  forequarter,  the  lightness  and  narrowness  of  the  hindquarters,  and 
the  flatness  of  the  ribs.  I  have  observed  this  in  the  produce  of  several 
sons  of  Hambletonian,  when  the  dams  were  by  other  sires.  The  Ab- 
dallah is  apt  to  get  ahead.  And  so  it  will  be  m  the  produce  of  Mes- 
seno-er  Duroc.  I  should  not  select  him  as  a  stallion  for  a  Star  mare. 
I  should  in  no  case  send  a  mare  with  a  Mambrino  Chief  or  a  strong 
Duroc  jDedigree  to  him — I  should  get  away  as  far  as  possible  from 
them.  But  keep  it  in  mind  that  I  do  not  place  a  low  estimate  on  the 
blood  of  either  Duroc  or  Mambrino  Chief  for  trotting  quality.  Far 
from  it.  For  my  great  trotting  stallion  of  the  future,  or  the  present, 
I  shall  not  hastily  reject  either  of  these  elements,  but  I  wish  to  take 
them  with  a  full  view  of  their  defective  tendencies,  and  a  hope  to  avail 
myself  of  their  virtues  -without,  at  the  same  time,  entailing  on  my  stock 
any  of  their  stains  or  blemishes. 

And  thus  will  breeders  estimate  in  the  future  their  chances  in  breed- 
ing from  such  a  stallion  as  Messenger  Duroc.  His  large  form  and 
great  power,  with  his  truly  grand  trotting  conformation,  and  the  pre- 
cocity of  his  produce,  will  induce  many  to  take  chances  on  the  sound- 
ness of  the  stock  produced.  His  stock,  like  the  Mambrino  Chief 
fainily,  ^\'ill  trot  early,  and  some  may  be  found  to  train  on  and  imjjrove 
to  full  age.  Hence  there  will  be  chances  for  the  trotting  lists  of  2:20 
and  under,  to  show  now  and  then  the  names  of  sons  or  daughters  of 
Messenger  Duroc.  At  all  events,  his  combination  of  blood  and  the 
results  of  his  career  in  the  stud,  will  afford  some  valuable  and  highly 
suggestive  lessons  to  the  diligent  student  and  the  philosophical 
breeder. 


16 


CHAPTEE  XL 

EDWARD  EVERETT  AND  THE   STAR-HAMBLETONIAXS. 

For  reasons  that  may  perhaps  be  apparent  during  the  progress  of 
this  chapter,  I  find  it  convenient  to  treat  of  the  Edward  Everett 
branch  of  the  Hambletonian  family  in  connection  with  those  whose 
dams  were  the  so-called  Star  mares.  This  son  of  Hambletonian  is 
one  of  the  oldest  now  before  the  public,  and  has  achieved  no  small 
distinction  as  a  sire  of  first-class  trotters.  He  was  foaled  in  1855,  was 
bred  by  Adam  Lilburn,  of  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  and  has  been  owned 
since  1869  by  Robert  Bonner,  Esq.,  proprietor  of  the  New  York 
Ledger^  a  gentleman  of  national  reputation,  and  as  a  patron  and 
friend  of  horse  breeding,  in  the  highest  and  noblest  department,  with- 
out a  rival  or  a  peer. 

His  first  produce  that  achieved  distinction  was  Mountain  Boy,  so- 
often  matched  against  Lady  Thorn,  who  attained  a  record  of  2:20f. 
Judge  Fullerton,  another  son  of  great  distinction,  has  made  many 
campaigns,  and  has  a  record  of  2:18.  His  fastest  son  is  probably  Joe 
Elliott,  who  is  generally  credited  with  having  trotted  a  mile  in  2:19^,. 
and  is  alleged  also  to  have  made  a  mile  in  2:15^ — neither  of  wliich,. 
however,  were  record  performances.  That  he  is  capable  of  great 
speed,  and  perhaps  equal  to  anything  that  has  appeared  on  the  trotting 
turf,  there  can  be  little  doubt.  In  addition  to  these,  Tanner  Boy  has 
a  record  of  2:22^,  and  28  heats  in  2:30  and  better;  Sheridan,  2:23^ 
and  8  heats;  Everett  Ray,  2 :25^,  and  14  heats;  Big  Fellow,  2:26;^,  and 
6  heats.     Judge  Fullerton  has  made  91  heats  in  2:30  or  better, 

I  may  here  observe  that  scarcely  anything  is  known  of  the  blood  or 
qualities  of  the  mares  from  which  any  of  these  really  great  performers 
have  been  bred.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  fate  of  this  horse  to  have 
been  kept  in  the  dark,  and  bred  in  the  dark,  until  forced  into  distinc- 
tion by  the  performances  of  his  gelded  sons,  for  such  they  all  seem  to 
be.     Moreover,  nothing  is  known,  with  any  degree  of  reliability,  about 

(2-10) 


iimi  iiirirtipiiiffli|ii;iti(uninM(iiitiiumiffiiij 


Everett's  dam.  24.1 

the  blood  or  breeding  of  his  own  dam,  except  as  I  draw  it  by  infer- 
ence from  the  qualities  and  characteristics  of  himself  and  his  family. 
The  pedigree  which  has  been  accredited  by  some  to  his  dam,  is  that 
of  a  thoroughbred  mare,  and  by  imp.  Margrave.  The  mare,  a  small 
but  highly  bred  chestnut,  was  well  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Newburgh, 
N.  Y.  The  following  is  the  pedigree  that  has  been  generally  accred- 
ited to  the  mare : 

Fanny— chestnut  mare,  foaled  about  1846 ;  bred  by  Mr.  Mansfield,  of  Vir- 
ginia, by  imported  Margrave. 
First  dam  by  Trumpator. 
Second  dam  by  Lindsay's  Arabian. 
Third  dam  by  imported  Oscar. 
Fourth  dam  by  imported  Vampire. 
Fifth  dam  by  Col.  Carter  Braxton's  imported  Kitty  Fisher  by  Cade. 

It  is  stated  in  Bruce's  Stud  Book,  that  this  pedigree  is  given  on  the 
certificate  of  a  well  known  turfman,  but  not  her  breeder,  and  the  chief 
question  relating  thereto  is  one  of  identity. 

I  enter  into  no  controversy  about  alleged  pedigrees,  except  so  far 
as  their  acceptance  stands  in  the  way  of  clear  indications  of  lineage 
as  exhibited  in  the  conformations  and  blood  qualities  of  the  given 
animals  and  their  descendants.  In  such  cases  I  follow  the  path 
marked  by  conformation,  physical  organization  and  blood  traits,  which, 
to  my  mind,  are  more  satisfactory  and  assuring  than  certificates  of 
pedigree  as  they  are  sometimes  obtained. 

Another  observation  I  will  here  make — that  in  case  an  alleared 
thoroughbred  pedigree  is  challenged  and  widely  controverted,  it  may 
be  generally  regarded  as  not  genuine,  unless  its  identity  and  genuine- 
ness be  followed  up  and  traced  to  a  responsible  and  entirely  reliable 
source,  and  its  authenticity  fully  established;  for  such  can  in  all  cases 
be  done,  if  the  pedigree  be  that  of  a  thoroughbred.  The  same  can 
not  and  should  not  be  expected  of  part-bred  animals.  It  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  rest  the  pedigree  on  the  certificate  of  any  man,  unless  he  had 
the  means  of  knowing  all  the  facts  from  the  beginning. 

But  in  the  case  of  this  truly  great  stallion  there  is  really  no  occa- 
sion for  special  controversy  about  the  pedigree  of  his  dam,  as  he  has 
individual  merit  enough  in  himself,  as  a  sire  of  trotters,  to  supply  any 
deficiency  in  the  pedigree  of  his  dam;  and  as  the  Margrave  blood 
has  never  in  a  single  instance  been  known  to  contribute  anything  to 
the  trotting  turf,  either  remotely  or  immediately,  he  loses  nothing  by 
dropping  from  sight  his  alleged  Margrave  cross.     Moreover,  his  own 


242  EDWARD   EVERETT. 

conformation  and  that  of  all  his  family,  transmitted  with  a  degree  of 
positiveness  clearly  defined,  and  not  to  be  mistaken,  nowhere  excelled 
in  that  of  any  family  on  this  continent,  point  my  mind,  with  entire 
satisfaction,  to  the  origin  of  his  maternal  ancestor,  and  all  the  pecu- 
liarities which  so  clearly  mark  him  and  his  produce. 

Still  further,  I  can  not  be  persuaded  that  Hambletonian  could  pro- 
duce such  a  horse  as  Edward  Everett  from  any  thoroughbred  mare. 
It  would  be  contrary  to  the  well  known  blood  affinities  and  breeding 
qvialities  of  Hambletonian,  and  an  enigma  in  cross-breeding  without 
a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  family.  Hambletonian  was  a  horse 
made  up  of  curious  and  rare  compounds,  and  his  great  exccllenc-es 
were  only  drawn  out  by  mares  possessing  certain  blood  traits,  far 
removed  from  those  of  the  strictly  thoroughbred.  This  horse  Edward 
Everett  follows  in  quality  and  blood  traits  after  the  similitude  of 
Hambletonian  far  too  closely  to  have  come  from  a  mare  whose  quality 
was  only  that  of  a  thoroughbred. 

Edward  Everett  is  a  small  but  lengthy-appearing  horse.  He  is  614- 
inches,  or  15  hands  l-j  inches,  in  height;  his  shoulder  extends  forward, 
like  that  of  his  sire,  and  he  goes  far  backward  at  the  buttock  or  pos- 
terior, which  gives  him  his  appearance  of  length  of  body.  His  withoi  3 
rise  more  prominently  than  did  those  of  his  sire  ;  his  tail  or  croup 
stands  not  quite  so  high,  and  his  whirlbone,  being  much  lower,  gives 
him  the  sloping  rump,  or  drooping  hindquarters,  quite  unlike  the 
Messenger  and  Bellfounder  families.  In  other  respects  he  greatly 
resembles  his  sire,  and  has  much  of  the  Bellfounder  form,  especially 
in  the  barrel  and  forequarter.  His  skin  is  of  the  finest  texture,  and 
he  shows  a  glossy  golden-bay  coat,  not  equaled  by  any  son  of  Ham- 
liletonian  that  I  have  ever  seen — all  pointing  to  a  horse  of  very  high 
breeding.  His  eyes  are  wide  apart,  and  very  prominent,  like  all  the 
Abdallah  family.  In  point  of  temj^er  he  can  not  be  said  to  be  of  the 
best.  When  I  saw  him,  four  years  ago,  his  keeper  was  afraid  of  him, 
and  I  was  limited  to  a  very  narrow  inspection  of  him  in  his  stall, 
where  he  was  tied  with  three  halters,  no  one,  as  it  seemed,  daring  to 
approach  him.  This,  I  am  told,  has  been,  in  large  part,  owing  to 
improper  treatment  by  those  who  raised  him. 

In  this  he  shows  a  strong  leaning  toward  the  Messenger  family,  as 
in  many  other  particulars.  He  knows  the  difference  between  kind 
and' ill-treatment.  He  also  will  not  brook  undue  familiarity;  but  for 
all  this,  he  can  not  be  called  in  any  sense  a  vicious  horse.  Since 
passing  into  Mr.  Bonner's  hands  he  has  become  more  docile,  and  it 


GAME    TROTTERS.  "543 

was  not  a  difficult  matter  to  approacli  and  handle  him  while  in  the 
care  of  his  accustomed  keepers,  when  I  saw  him  quite  recently. 

His  front  legs  are  not  quite  satisfactory,  being  over  at  the  knees — a 
trait  that  comes  as  much  from  the  fact  that  he  has  a  long  front  cannon 
and  a  short  forearm  as  from  any  other.  This  also  causes  him  and  his 
produce  that  have  a  similar  proportion  of  limb  to  strike  the  ground 
with  force,  and  is  inducive  of  injury  to  the  feet  and  limbs.  It  is  a 
feature  that  detracts  something  from  the  very  high  trotting  capacity 
and  quality  of  his  family. 

His  measurement  of  limb  for  trotting  qualities  is  what  we  would 
call  a  short-leverage  conformation.  His  front  cannon-bones  are  not  as 
short,  and  his  hip  and  thigh  not  as  long  as  the  best.  His  skeleton 
form  is  not  that  of  a  great  trotting  family.  There  is  not  a  particle  of 
Duroc  blood  in  him.  Trotting  action  does  not  come  so  natural  to  his 
family  as  to  some  others;  hence  they  do  not  show  it  so  plainly  in  colt- 
hood,  and  do  not  excel  as  field  trotters — they  are  not  naturally  the 
early,  showy  fellows. 

Whence  then  comes  his  great  excellence  as  a  sire,  and  the  great 
performance  of  some  of  his  produce  ?  The  inclination  to  trot,  of 
course,  comes  from  the  Harnbletonian  blood;  and  as  Hambletonian 
did  not  impart  this  quality  to  all  of  his  produce  in  equal  degree,  so 
this  son  does  not  impart  the  trotting  capacity  alike  to  all;  but  those 
who  do  inherit  it  have  also  the  faculty  of  training  on,  and  go  with 
flights  of  speed  that  are  the  wonder  of  all  beholders.  Where  does 
this  all  repose?  No  one  has  ever  attempted  to  explain  it.  Why  is  it 
that,  lacking  in  the  leverage  conformation  requisite  for  great  perform- 
ance, he  is  yet  able  to  impart  such  superior  powers  to  so  many  of  his 
produce? 

Any  one  who  has  closely  studied  the  peculiar  qualities  of  the 
Messenger  and  the  Bellfounder  blood  has  found  that  with  all  the 
excellences  of  each,  they  require  a  sort  of  toning  before  they  let  out 
their  richest  exhibitions  of  trotting  power.  The  Messenger  must 
have  some  little  alloy  of  road  elements,  to  get  rid  of  the  Arab  tenden- 
cies and  cause  it  to  assimilate  and  let  out  its  real  trotting  excellences. 
Just  in  like  manner  the  Bellfounder  element  refused  entirely  to  amal- 
gamate with  the  strictly  thoroughbred  strains,  and  required  some  of  its 
kindred  blood  that  had  like  ingredients  of  alloy.  The  road-worked 
Messenger  going  back  to  the  pristine  Sampson  with  his  coach-horse 
blood  and  instincts,  was  the  amalgam  that  caused  the  Bellfounder  in 
Hambletonian  to  fuse  and  work  in  harmony  and  power  in  other  com- 


244  EDWARD   EVERETT. 

binatiohs.  Moreover,  I  have  constantly  presented  the  idea,  here  quite 
manifest,  that  these  changes  from  these  great  and  positive  elements 
can  not  be  made  abrujitly,  but  must  be  reached  by  gradual  approaches. 
This  is  a  law  of  breeding  never  more  clearly  illustrated  than  in  con- 
nection with  these  two  blood  elements. 

Hambletonian  has  left  one  son  from  a  thoroughbred  mare,  and  let 
his  total  unfitness  as  a  trotting  sire  teach  us  the  lesson  that  the  blood 
of  a  thoroughbred  mare  could  not  produce  so  great  a  stallion  as 
Edward  Everett.  But  the  dam  of  Edward  Everett,  while  she  had  a 
near  cross  of  Diomed  blood  beyond  reasonable  doubt,  had  such  a 
backing  up  of  the  blood  of  Messenger — for  it  was  Messenger  and 
nothing  else  shining  out  so  positively — that  she  drew  out  of  Hambleto- 
nian the  blended  qualities  of  Abdallah  and  Bellfounder  in  a  degree 
not  surpassed  by  any  son  he  has  produced.  The  composition  of 
Edward  Everett  is  as  clearly  indicated  as  that  of  any  son  of  Hamble- 
tonian. Diomed  is  in  the  near  ground,  but  not  in  as  strong  force  as 
in  the  Stars,  who  have  two  crosses  near  at  hand;  Everett  has  but  one, 
and  no  Duroc  whatever.  But  his  strong  Messenger  and  Bellfounder 
caste  is  clear,  unmistakable  and  very  positive.  He  has  the  blood 
composition  of  a  great  trotting  sire.  The  record  attests  the  fact  that 
such  he  is.  The  number  of  his  produce  is  not  probably  great,  owing 
to  the  high  price  at  which  his  services  have  been  held  in  recent  years. 
In  fact  he  has  occupied  more  the  character  of  a  private  stallion,  and 
as  such  his  services  were  most  likely  limited  in  large  degree  to  the 
mares  belonging  to  his  owner.  Had  he  received  the  promiscuous 
patronage  due  to  his  merits,  he  would,  beyond  doubt,  present  a  list 
which  not  many  could  equal. 

A  close  study  of  Everett  and  his  family  has  revealed  to  me  the  fact 
that  the  great  power — the  chief  and  distinguishing  feature  of  his 
family — is  one  of  muscle  ^  that  it  is  in  large  part  in  the  peculiarly 
powerful  muscular  development  of  this  family  that  their  chief  great- 
ness is  found.  Their  feet  and  legs  are  not  equal  to  some  others;  their 
skeleton  anatomy  has  no  elements  of  great  trotting  adaptation;  but 
they  have  inherited  on  one  side  a  trotting  brain  and  nerve  organization 
of  surpassing  force  very  well  balanced,  with  an  incomparable  consti- 
tutional vigor,  and  on  the  other  they  have  the  muscular  form  of  a 
race-horse  that  ran  on  his  muscle,  and  by  it  wrote  his  name  in  bright 
letters  on  the  page  of  turf  history. 

Joe  Elliott  is  to-day  the  finest  specimen  of  muscular  development — 
unless  it  be  one  other,  which  I  shall  mention  in  this  chapter — that  I 


STAR    CROSS.  J345 

ever  saw.  For  the  present  I  shall  go  no  further  than  to  say  that 
Edward  Everett  measures  11  inches  in  his  front  cannon-bone,  19|- 
inches  in  his  forearm,  38  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  and  22^  inches  in 
his  leno-th  of  thio-h.  Joe  Elliott  is  11  inches  in  front  cannon,  20 
inches  in  forearm,  39  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  and  23  inches  in  his 
thig'h.  His  great  stride  is  not  due  to  his  length  of  limb  or  propelling 
leverage,  but  to  the  sheer  and  marvelous  muscular  power  that  drives  it, 
which,  like  a  charge  of  dynamite,  has  no  regard  to  the  length  of 
barrel  or  quality  of  gun  from  which  it  is  fired,  but  has  a  power  in 
itself  that  can  not  be  measured  or  confined. 

THE    STAE-HAMBLETONIAlSrS. 

Turning  here  for  awhile  from  the  consideration  of  this  family,  I 
■direct  attention  to  an  examination  of  the  Star  cross — a  term  that  has 
been  linked  with  the  name  and  fame  of  Hambletonian,  and  which 
furnishes  us  with  a  subject  of  study  worthy  the  employment  of  our 
best  hovirs. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  written  about  this  famed  union  of 
bloods — so  much  laudation  has  been  expended  upon  it — ^that  it  might 
be  supposed  little  need  bo  said,  or  could  be  written,  that  would  add 
to  its  lustre,  or  solve  its  mysterious  greatness.  The  real  truth,  how- 
•ever,  seems  to  be,  that  of  all  that  has  been  said  or  written,  no  real 
light  has  been  shed  upon  the  subject;  no  one  has  told  us  wherein  the 
greatness  of  the  cross  consists;  why  it  has  occurred  that  the  blood  of 
Hambletonian  crossed  upon  mares  by  American  Star  has  resulted  in 
such  great  celebrities  on  the  trotting  turf;  nor  have  any  of  them,  so 
far  as  I  can  discover,  even  told  us  what  those  great  and  marvelous 
qualities  of  the  Star  blood  consisted  of,  or  from  what  especial  sources 
they  were  derived. 

One  of  the  most  noted  authors  of  our  day,  in  a  recent  periodical, 
for  which  I  have  a  kindly  regard,  has  given  us  a  highly  eulogistic 
article  on  certain  members  of  this  family,  in  which  he  has  told  us, 
among  other  things,  that  Dexter  possesses  that  indomitable,  invincible 
spirit  which  distinguished  English  Eclipse;  that  in  Dexter  there  are 
at  least  three  crosses  of  Diomed,  grandson  of  King  Herod,  fortified 
bv  the  blood  of  his  best  son  Hiffhflver;  and  we  are  asked  if  we  are 
to  believe  that  all  this  concentrated  King  Herod  blood  in  the  sire  of 
Dexter's  dam  was  neutralized  by  one  cross  of  Messenger  in  Star's 
grandam.  But  the  vagueness  of  the  conundrum  is  seen  in  the  absence 
of  all  light  as  to  the  trotting  qualities  of  this  all-powerful  King 
Herod  and  Highflyer  blood. 


246  STAK-HAMBLETONIANS. 

We  are  still  further  enlightened  by  the  information  that  American 
Star  was  descended  from  Duroc  and  Henry  and  Sir  Archy  and  Dio- 
med,  with  one  cross  of  Messenger,  but  no  one  has  attempted  to  ex- 
plain the  operations  of  these  bloods.  Nothing  has  been  so  common 
of  recent  years  as  to  see  lengthy  laudations  of  pedigrees  that  con- 
tained many  crosses  of  Diomed,  and  yet  no  one  has  attempted  to  show 
why  the  blood  of  Diomed  has  any  adaptation  to  the  pui-poses  of  the 
trotting  horse;  and  in  the  two  instances  given  of  Duroc,  a  son,  and 
Henry,  a  double  grandson,  no  one  has  pointed  out  the  special  fitness 
or  unfitness  of  either  of  these  bloods  resting  on  any  definite  quality 
which  could  in  any  way  adapt  either  one  to  promoting  excellence  in 
the  trotter.  An  examination  of  the  two  will  reveal  the  fact,  that 
although  of  thie  family  of  Diomed,  the  grandson  of  King  Herod,  they 
were  each  as  different  in  their  qualities  as  were  the  little  planet 
Venus  that  shines  so  brightly,  and  the  great  comet  that  appeared  in 
our  sky  a  few  years  ago.  It  is  time  we  should  cease  this  jargon  of 
names,  and  look  beyond  the  list  of  animals,  and  into  the  lines  and 
qualities  of  the  blood  that  enters  into  the  composition  of  an  animal. 

Hambletonian  achieved  much  of  his  fame  from  the  produce  of  Star 
mares.  He  had  access  to  many  of  them,  as  their  sire  had  spent  most 
of  his  life  in  the  same  county,  and  as  a  family  they  were  already  noted 
for  the  high  trotting  qualities  which  have  since  distinguished  the  union 
of  the  two  bloods.  The  combination  that  gave  us  Dexter,  Jay  Gould, 
Socrates,  Huntress,  Startle,  Dictator,  Gauntlet,  Wilkins  Micawber, 
Aberdeen,  and  a  long  list  of  other  celebrities,  all  possessed  of  great 
speed,  bottom  and  game  to  the  very  last,  is  one  well  worthy  of  the 
most  careful  study. 

Hiffh  breeding  is  the  first  characteristic  that  strikes  the  beholder. 
No  horse  can  show  a  more  genuine  thoroughbred  type  to-day  than 
Dexter.  In  point  of  temper,  unflinching  courage  and  game  to  the 
point  of  desperation,  no  thoroughbred  family  can  surpass  them.  For 
ready  trotting  action,  true  poise  of  body,  steady  stroke,  and  all  that 
makes  up  purity  of  gait  in  a  trotter,  they  stand  as  a  family  without  a 
rival  or  a  peer.  In  point  of  form,  they  are  a  wide  departure  from  that 
of  Hambletonian  and  the  average  of  his  family.  They  are  smaller 
and  finer  in  form.  The  Abdallah  features  of  the  head  are  displaced 
by  one  of  a  thoroughbred  caste,  full  of  fire  and  beauty.  The  Bell- 
founder  and  Messenger  rump,  straight  and  almost  level,  and  the  heavy 
hindquarter,  with  its  elevated  croup  and  whirlbone,  have  given  way  to 
a  rounded  drooping  rump,  tu.il  much  lower  set  on,  and  dropping  off 


THE   STAR  GAIT. 


247 


toward  the  quarters,  and  thighs  which  are  of  great  muscular  solidity, 
and  heavily  covered  low  down  upon  the  gaskin,  and  resting  on  a  hock 
generally  good,  having  a  large  and  powerful  tendon  extending  upward 
therefrom. 

The  Star  Hambletonian  is  usually  15  to  lof  hands,  close-ribbed  and 
strong  in  body,  back,  barrel,  forearm  and  quarters,  but  deficient  and 
greatly  lacking  below  the  knees  and  hock.  They  are  shaky  in  their 
forelegs,  in  very  many  cases  over  on  their  knees,  have  thin  hoofs,  and 
are  often  subject  to  unsound  feet.  How  general  is  the  complaint  that 
this  one  or  that  one  has  suffered  in  his  feet!  How  almost  universal, as 
compared  with  other  lines  of  descent  from  Abdallah  and  Messenger! 

The  general  good  nature  and  kindly  temper  of  the  Bellfounder  has 
in  large  part  given  way  to  a  manner  not  remarkable  for  strict  amia- 
bility. Many  of  them  are  in  reality  unapproachable  by  any  stranger. 
Hiram  Woodruff  found  Dexter  an  overmatch  for  him  occasionally.  I 
never  yet  saw  a  member  of  this  family,  or  of  that  of  Everett,  that 
did  not  show  gi-eat  positiveness  of  character  and  disposition. 

The  Star-Hambletonians  have  a  ready  natural  trotting  gait,  and  go 
with  certain  peculiarities  which  distinguish  them  from  any  family  I 
have  seen.  They  have  a  wider  or  more  open  gait,  and  go  with  their 
hind  feet  further  apart  than  any  other  family  of  Hambletonians,  as  a 
general  rule.  They  have  a  thigh  of  such  extra  length  as  to  show  their 
Uuroc  cross,  although  not  long  from  the  hip  to  the  hock.  The  whirl- 
bone  or  buttock-joint  is  let  down,  so  that  the  propelling  power  of  the 
muscles  hangs  lower  on  the  gaskin  or  hock  than  in  other  Duroc 
crosses;  hence  the  gait,  though  wide  open,  is  not  the  Duroc  gait. 
The  Star  gait  is  well  known,  resulting  from  a  union  of  two  organiza- 
tions, which  makes  them  unlike  any  other  family.  When  they  trot  by 
the  halter,  or  at  moderate  rate  of  speed,  the  hind  leg  does  not  seem 
to  swing  on  the  whirlbone  as  in  other  families,  but  s\^'ings  straight 
from  the  hip-joint — a  peculiarity  that  is  very  noticeable.  When  the 
rate  of  speed,  however,  is  accelerated,  they  depart  from  this  hip- 
swinging  motion,  and  lift  the  hind  foot  squarely,  and  carry  every  foot 
in  true  and  perfect  trotting  poise,  not  too  close  under  the  body,  but 
even  on  each  side,  and  their  trotting  motion  is  the  perfection  of  accu- 
racy. Their  stroke  is  rapid  and  powerful,  not  far  reacliing  or  dwelling, 
but  steady  and  true,  quick  and  even  in  every  stroke. 

Startle  measures  38f  inches,  and  22f  inches  in  length  from  hip  to 
hock,  and  stifle  to  hock.  Aberdeen  measures  39  and  23  inches,  and 
Wilkins  Micawber  39  and  23;^  inches;  and  he  is  a  little  wider  gaited. 


124S  STAR-HAMBLETONIANS. 

to  my  eye,  than  either  of  the  others.  Huntress  is  39^  and  23|  inches, 
and  comes  from  a  sire  that  adds  to  the  length  of  each  of  these  meas- 
urements. The  influence  of  the  Duroc  blood  is  shown  in  each  case 
in  the  increased  length  of  thigh;  Huntress  and  Wilkins  Micawber 
each  acknowledging  their  double  cross  of  that  blood.  Aberdeen  has 
a  forearm  17  inches,  and  a  front  cannon-bone  11^  inches;  Wilkins 
Micawber  19|-  and  llf  inches,  and  Startle  20  and  11  inches. 

Having  had  an  opportunity  for  a  close  inspection  of  a  son  of  Amer- 
ican Star,  I  am  enabled  to  present  some  points  from  his  anatomy 
which  will  go  far  toward  explaining  the  origin  of  all  these  departures 
from  the  Hambletonian  original.  Goldsmith's  Star,  by  Seely's  Amer- 
ican Star,  dam  by  Fox  Hunter,  is  a  dark  bay  horse,  about  15  hands 
high,  and  measures  as  follows:  Hip  to  hock  38  inches,  tliigh  22|- 
inches,  front  cannon-bone  11^  inches,  forearm  18f  inches.  He  has 
the  round,  drooping  rump,  and  muscular  quarters  and  thighs. 

This  family,  like  that  with  which  this  chapter  began,  are  not  noted 
for  an  anatomy  that  indicates  great  trotting  leverage.  They  have  a 
close  or  pony-built  form,  and  short-reaching  extremities;  yet  the  vigor 
and  power  of  their  trotting  action  is  of  the  highest  order.  They  go 
with  an  energy  and  momentum  that  is  almost  fearful.  It  is  often 
remarked  by  those  who  drove  Dexter,  that  it  was  enough  to  make  the 
man  pale  with  trepidation,  and  cause  his  heart  to  beat  quick  with 
fear,  when  the  horse  took  the  bit  and  started  to  trot  in  earnest.  The 
immense  force  with  which  he  moved  was  also  apparent  in  the  very 
shaking  of  the  ground  on  which  he  trod. 

This  all  very  clearly  points  to  the  immense  muscular  organization 
which  forms  the  distinguishing  feature  of  this  famed  family.  Power- 
ful tendons,  strongly  imbedded  in  immense  and  powerful  muscles,  are 
displayed  by  every  member  of  the  family;  and  here  is  the  lodgment 
of  their  wonderful  power.  In  regard  to  the  readiness  or  naturalness 
of  their  trotting  gait,  I  will  here  say  that  while  they  seem  to  have 
much  of  this,  they  do  not  display  it  so  readily  as  those  that  show  the 
Duroc  conformation  more  com})letely;  and  while  those  that  have 
attained  to  full  age,  and  are  the  produce  of  Hambletonian  himself, 
and  also  such  of  the  produce  of  Dictator  as  I  have  seen  not  of  full 
age,  trot  at  easy  or  slow  speed,  with  the  swinging  gait  which  I  have 
described,  I  have  seen  young  ones  of  the  produce  of  Wilkins  Micaw- 
ber, Jay  Gould  and  Startle  that  lifted  the  hind  foot  up  squarely,  and 
showed  great  muscular  vigor  and  activity,  bending  both  the  stifle  and 
at  the  whirlbone.     Such  is  uniformly  the  motion  of  all  when  at  high 


DEXTER.  249 

speed;  but  I  have  not  yet  seen  one  that  did  not,  at  slow  speed,  swing 
the  hind  leg  from  the  hip,  as  though  there  was  difficulty  in  bending 
it.  I  3ay,  without  hesitation,  that  I  know  of  no  animals  which  dis- 
play such  perfection  of  muscular  action  as  is  shown  by  the  members 
■of  this  family.  It  would  seem  that  in  them  the  intelligence  and  skill 
of  human  production  had  reached  perfection,  if  the  quality  can  only 
be  maintained  amd  transmitted  to  or  engrafted  upon  other  families 
•exempt  from  the  defects  which  mar  this  otherwise  highly-formed  family. 

It  can  not  have  escaped  the  observation  of  any  of  my  readers  thus 
far,  that  there  is  a  great  similarity — an  almost  identity — between  the 
Star-Hambletonians  and  the  Everett  family.  Their  gaits,  however, 
■are  not  alike.  The  Everetts  are  not  Star-gaited,  and  they  could  not 
be  without  a  Duroc  thigh,  or  its  equivalent;  but  in  all  other  respects 
there  seems  to  be  a  complete  identity  between  the  two  families,  ex- 
cept it  be  in  one  other  particular — to  which  I  may  as  well  here  refer, 
but  of  which  I  shall  speak  further — in  this,  that  not  over  one  son 
of  Hambletonian  and  a  Star  mare  has  yet  prodviced  a  trotter  capa- 
ble of  trotting  in  2 :20  or  better.  There  are  nearly  thirty  entire  sous 
of  Hambletonian  whose  dams  were  Star  mares;  yet  only  three  of 
these  have  produced  trotters  in  the  3:30  list,  and  a  small  number  of 
such  stand  to  the  credit  of  the  family.  Everett  stands  ahead  of  all 
the  list  combined. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  suggest  that  the  appearance  of 
Judge  Fullerton — a  large,  dark  chestnut  gelding,  with  white  face  and 
legs,  looking  more  like  Dexter  than  any  horse  on  the  turf — and  that 
of  many  others  of  the  prodvice  of  Everett,  goes  far  to  suggest  the 
same  departure  from  the  uniformity  of  color  which  prevails  in  the 
Hambletonian  family  that  is  visible  in  those  of  the  Star  cross;  also, 
that  Everett  and  those  of  this  Star  cross,  though  of  the  smallest  of  the 
Hambletonian  family  themselves,  commonly  breed  out  large  horses, 
in  most  cases  equal  in  size  to  the  produce  of  16-hand  sires. 

Whatever  may  be  the  peculiarity  of  the  blood  forces  that  mark  the 
•differences  between  the  Bellfounder-Messenger  families  and  those  of 
the  Everett  and  Star  families,  the  difference  between  the  two  latter  is 
simply  one  of  degree — a  mere  matter  of  intensity  or  accumulated 
force  of  blood  in  the  last  over  the  other. 

DEXTER. 

Dexter  has  been  so  often  described,  that  the  public  are  familiar  with 
his  apjDearance.    A  dark  bay  or  brown  gelding,  with  a  white  stripe  the 


250  STAK-IIAMBLETONIANS. 

full  length  antl  -  idth  of  his  face,  and  four  white  legs;  15  hands  1  inch 
I'.igh;  his  head  as  finely  cut  in  its  outline  as  that  of  Australian  or 
Bonnie  Scotland;  an  eye  that  does  not  stand  out  with  the  prominence 
of  the  Abdallah  eye  in  Hambletonian,  but  one  that  sparkles  with  a 
glance  of  fire  that  speaks  of  that  which  is  back  of  the  orb;  his  mane 
and  tail  are  medium  in  fullness,  and  in  form  and  blood-like  appearance 
he  is  hardly  sur])assed  by  that  of  any  thoroughbred  of  full  age  in  the 
country.     His  record  of  2: 17:r  is  familiar  to  all. 

starti:b. 

Startle  is  a  bright  bay  horse,  15  hands  high,  with  a  white  face,  and 
white,  or  mostly  white,  legs,  light  mane  and  tail.  His  feet  and  legs- 
are  not  so  good  as  those  of  Dexter,  and  have  been  always  regarded  as 
quite  faulty;  but  from  the  knee  and  hock  upward  he  is  a  horse  in 
perfection,  and  no  other  term  will  express  it.  He  has  not  so  much  of 
the  high,  blood-like  appearance  about  the  head  as  is  shown  by  Dexter^ 
but  his  barrel,  shoulder,  forearm,  quarters  and  thigh  are,  beyond  ques- 
tion, the  nonpareil  of  all  stallions.  He  is  a  little  horse,  but  in  reality 
a  little  giant.  His  quarters  are  great;  and  the  muscle  that  extends 
do^vn  the  thigh  and  gaskin  is  the  fiinest  and  firmest  to  the  touch  that 
ever  came  under  my  observation.  He  is  the  only  horse  I  have  seen 
that  can  show,  in  this  respect,  alongside  of  Joe  Elliott,  the  son  of  Ever- 
ett, and  these  two  are  very  much  alike.  He  is  also  owned  by  Robert 
Bonner,  and  is  a  horse  well  worthy  such  a  munificent  ownership.  I 
have  seen  young  colts  (weanlings)  by  him,  and  must  confess  that  they 
show  not  only  the  same  muscular  and  wiry  form,  but  also  a  very  ready 
inclination  to  trot.  They  also  show  the  white  faces  and  legs.  His 
speed  is  claimed  to  have  been  displayed  in  a  trial  in  which  he  showed 
a  mile  in  2:19.  His  owner  never  allowing  any  of  his  horses  to  con- 
tend in  races — the  only  contests  that  are  calculated  to  call  out  the 
greatest  efforts  of  such  organisms — we  must  content  ourselves  with 
the  belief  that,  under  proper  stimulus,  and  after  the  usual  training  to 
which  horses  are  in  our  day  subjected,  he  would  attain  to  a  very  high 
rate  of  speed,  if  his  feet  and  legs  did  not  fail  him  before  he  reached 
the  maximum  of  speed  to  which  his  otherwise  powerful  organization 
would  carry  him. 

JAT  GOUXD. 

Jay  Gould  is  a  bright  bay  horse,  of  fine  mould  and  finish,  15  hands 
2  inches  in  height,  rather  light-appearing  in   form,  but  of  greaX  and 


ABERDEEN.  2.')1 

powerfully  formed  quarters,  and  a  tolerably  fair  set  of  limbs.  His  head 
is  a  finely  formed  one,  and  he  has  a  face  that  indicates  the  high 
degree  of  intelligence  that  in  so  great  a  measure  marks  this  branch 
of  the  family.  He  has  trotted  twenty  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and 
reached  a  record  of  2:21|^,  and  in  addition  is  credited  with  one  son, 
King  Philip,  a  young  horse  only  five  years  old,  that  has  trotted  nine 
lieats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  reached  a  record  of  2:21.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  in  this  connection  that  Jay  Gould  differs  fi-om  all  the  other 
sons  of  this  cross  in  having  a  short  thigh — only  22  inches  in  length — 
"which  is  two  inches  shorter  than  other  stallions  I  have  seen  of  the 
same  cross.  This  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  possible  fact  that 
in  his  grandam  there  was  a  much  larger  quantum  of  Messenger 
blood  than  her  pedigree  discloses.  His  success  in  the  stud,  and  his 
own  great  excellence,  together  with  this  shortening  of  the  Duroc  thigh, 
incline  me  to  the  belief  that  he  is  very  strong  in  Messenger  blood. 
He  certainly  stands  first  on  the  list  of  stallions  produced  by  Hamble- 
tonian  from  Star  mares. 

ABERDEEN. 

Aberdeen  is  a  dark  bay  horse,  15  hands  3  inches  in  height,  very 
short  in  the  back,  a  higher  and  less  drooping  rump,  and  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  very  short,  com2:)act  and  heavy  horse.  He  weighs  over 
1,200  lbs.,  and  is  a  horse  of  a  powerful  back  and  loin,  but  more  of  a 
beefy-looking  animal,  and  has  less  of  the  finely-drawn  muscular 
■development  that  appears  in  others  of  this  family.  I  would  say  that 
he  had  stouter  and  sounder  feet  and  lea-s  than  some  others  of  this 
cross,  but  his  legs  are  far  from  satisfactory.  They  do  not  show  the 
blood-like  appearance  that  wovild  be  expected  from  the  blood  of  his 
dam — if  her  claim  stopped  even  with  her  Star  sire — and  certainly  not 
what  should  be  expected  from  a  double  cross  of  Abdallah.  I  even 
say,  if  this  horse  has  two  crosses  of  Abdallah,  that  famous  blood  has 
not  stood  out  for  its  own  individuality  as  in  most  other  cases.  He 
has  very  little  of  the  distinctive  Abdallah  appearance.  His  dam  was 
the  celebrated  Widow  Machree,  one  of  the  most  noted  trotters  of  the 
Star  family.  Aberdeen,  as  a  sire,  has  acquired  some  reputation,  mainly 
on  the  produce  of  one  mare,  from  which  he  has  several  likely  young 
colts;  but  I  must  say,  in  all  candor,  that  were  I  searching  for  a  young 
sire  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  Hambletonian,  I  should  not  stop  with 
the  family  of  the  Widow  Machree. 


252  STAK-HAMBLETONIANS. 

WILKINS    MICAWBER. 

I  confess  to  a  kindly  liking  for  Wilkins  Micawber.  He  was  a  stout- 
looking,  rich  dark  bay  horse,  15  hands  3  inches  in  height,  with  white 
face  and  legs — which  ornamental  colors  he  transmitted,  like  his  brother 
Startle,  to  his  offspring.  He  had  the  same  round  and  sloping  rump» 
low  and  heavy  quarters,  and  muscular  form  that  I  have  before  de- 
scribed, and  the  best  hock,  with  the  flattest,  cleanest  and  best  set  of 
legs  I  have  yet  seen  on  a  stallion  of  this  composition.  I  have  seen 
some  of  his  produce  that  give  indications  of  trotting  capacity,  al- 
though he  had,  at  the  time  I  saw  him,  none  older,  I  believe,  than  three 
or  four  years.  I  have  seen  some  of  his  weanlings  that,  like  those  of 
Startle,  created  in  my  mind  a  strong  belief  that  he  would  produce 
trotters.  I  have  not  often  seen  a  young  one  of  more  of  the  vnrj^ 
game-like  appearance,  with  the  most  muscular  and  facile  use  of  limbs 
in  the  true  trotting  direction,  than  I  saw  in  one  or  two  of  the  offspring 
of  Wilkins  Micawber.  His  dam  was  evidently  a  very  superior  mare, 
and  had  for  her  maternal  ancestor  a  mare  by  Nigger  Lance,  a  son  of 
Lance,  the  highly  bred  son  of  American  Eclipse.  He  died  in  July> 
1876,  leaving  some  promising  descendants. 

DICTATOR. 

Not  having  seen  this  brother  of  the  famous  Dexter,  I  am  confined 
to  an  estimate  of  him  as  disclosed  by  his  produce.  He  is  a  small 
horse,  only  15  hands  high,  but  he  breeds  large.  His  produce  are 
generally  dark  in  color,  and  have  not  so  much  of  the  white  markings 
as  appear  in  some  others  of  the  same  family.  They  have  the  same 
motion  in  the  hind  leg — swinging  from  the  hip — to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, and  it  seems  to  mark  all  ages  in  his  produce.  They  all  show 
much  of  the  Star  conformation,  but  not  in  so  great  a  degree  as  those 
of  the  first  cross,  and  their  thigh  proportions  indicate  clearly  that 
they  have  the  open  Star  gait.  It  is  claimed  that  he  has  produce  capa- 
ble of  trotting  in  3:30  or  better,  although  there  has  been  no  public 
proof  of  this  capacity.  In  Kentucky,  where  he  has  access  to  mares 
of  pure  trotting  qualities  of  the  Clay,  Pilot  and  Mambrino  Chief 
families,  he  will  have  opportunities  to  call  out  his  best  qualities  as  a 
breeder;  and  if  he  has  the  real  elements  of  blood  which  are  capable 
of  transmitting  the  high  trotting  qualities  of  his  family,  and  blending 
the  same  successfully  with  the  current  bloods  of  Kentucky  breeding,, 
he  will  perpetuate,  and,  perhaps,  add  to  the  lustre  of  the  fame  which 


SOCRATES,  IRVINGTON   AND   LELAND.  2.")3 

already   attaches    to   this  very   noted  branch  of  the  Hambletonian 
family. 

SOCRATES. 

Socrates  is  a  bright  bay  horse,  and  seems  to  have,  in  some  degree, 
departed  from  the  standard  of  the  Star  cross  in  regard  to  size  and 
other  particulars.  He  has  more  of  the  Duroc  than  the  other  elements 
that  make  up  that  cross,  and  is  a  tall,  rangy-looking  horse,  of  16  hands 
in  height,  and  fine  proportions.  His  feet  and  legs  have  the  appear- 
ance of  having  taken  strongly  after  the  Star  family,  and  I  should  say 
he  was  cut  out  for  speed  as  well  as  true  trotting  action.  He  was 
regarded,  in  the  early  part  of  his  career,  as  very  fast,  and  I  have  seen 
a  letter  from  an  able  and  very  popular  writer,  in  which  he  said  Soc- 
rates could  trot  a  mile  on  a  red-hot  track  without  burning  his  feet.  I 
suppose  the  heat  referred  to  was  most  likely  that  of  the  imagination, 
and  as  all  record  of  such  performance  is  wanting,  we  are  compelled 
simply  to  take  the  horse  as  a  fine  specimen  of  a  family  that  has  been 
at  all  times  noted  for  the  number  of  its  distinguished  members,  and 
the  lustre  of  their  achievements.  He  is  now  twelve  years  old,  and 
should  have  given  us  some  proof  by  this  time  of  his  quality  on  the 
track  and  in  the  stud. 

IRYINGTON   ATSTD    LELAND. 

These  two  brothers  are  of  very  distinguished  breeding,  and  if  any 
stallion  of  the  Star  cross  shall  prove  a  successful  sire,  it  would  seem 
that  it  should  be  one  or  both  of  these.  I  have  not  seen  either  of 
them,  but  am  assured  by  gentlemen  who  have  studied  horses  some- 
what as  I  have  studied  them,  that  they  are  really  fine  horses.  Leland 
has  been  described  to  me  as  one  of  the  finest  sons  of  Hambletonian, 
and  showing  much  of  the  form  and  quality  of  that  great  sire.  He  is 
owned  at  the  Stony  Ford  breeding  establishment  of  Charles  Back- 
man.  The  dam  of  these  two  stallions  was  Imogene,  by  Seely's  Amer- 
ican Star;  second  dam  Curry  Abdallah,  by  Abdallah;  third  dam  by 
imp.  Bellfounder;  fourth  dam  by  Royalist;  fifth  dam  by  Hardware, 
son  of  imp.  Messenger.  The  great  combination  of  the  blood  of  Mes- 
senger and  Bellfounder,  and  particularly  that  of  Abdallah,  in  the  com- 
position of  these  two  stallions,  should  excite  the  brightest  expectations 
as  to  their  future  greatness  as  sires  in  this  remarkably  well  bred 
family.  As  yet  they  are  too  young  to  have  anything  on  that  score 
positively  known.     Irvington  was  foaled  in  1870,  and  Leland  in  1875. 


i 


254  STAR-HAMBLETONIANS. 

ROMULUS. 

This  is  a  Western  stallion,  owned  by  S.  W.  Wheelock,  of  Moline, 
111.,  and  is  by  Hambletonian ;  first  dam  by  American  Star,  second 
dam  by  Mambrino  Chief.  This  is  a  double  installment  of  the  Duroe 
blood,  but  combined  with  that  of  Messenger,  and  all  coming  through 
channels  that  always  display  the  royal  trotting  quality.  He  is  regarded 
as  a  horse  of  real  excellence,  and  a  favorite  in  the  region  where  he  has 
been  kept.     He  was  foaled  in  1868. 

WAXLKILL    CHIEF. 

This  horse  was  foaled  in  1865,  and  died  when  about  eight  years  old. 
His  dam  was  Dolly  Mills  by  American  Star,  and  his  second  dam  said 
to  be  by  a  horse  called  Young  Messenger,  and  supposed  to  be  by  a  son 
of  Bush  Messenger.  By  the  record  he  stands  the  most  successful  sire 
of  those  bred  from  this  cross.  Although  allowed  only  a  short  career 
in  the  stud,  he  has  left  as  proof  of  his  capacity  in  this  line,  Great 
Eastern,  with  record  of  3:19,  and  26  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  also  record 
under  saddle  of  2:15f,  and  6  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Dick  Swiveller, 
2:23,  and  19  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  and  Roman  Chief,  2:30 — the  only 
son  of  Hambletonian  and  a  Star  mare  that  has  produced  a  trotter  with 
record  below  2:20,  and  with  three  performers  in  2:30  or  better. 

MASTEULODE. 

This  is  the  only  other  son  of  this  cross  that  has  produced  a  2:30 
trotter.  He  is  the  sire  of  Edward  with  record  of  2:30,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  his  grandam  was  by  Abdallah.  In  view  of  the 
great  superiority  of  the  first  cross,  and  the  large  number  of  stallions 
thus  bred,  it  is  very  remarkable  that  so  small  a  number  have  thus 
far  proved  successful  sires,  and  such  were  well  backed  up  in  the  rich- 
est trotting  blood  beyond  their  Star  dams.  The  fact  is  both  sugges- 
■  tive  and  interesting. 

The  list  of  Star-Hambletonians  is  a  large  one,  and  embraces  the 
following: 

Aberdeen !  foaled  1866  Jay  Gould foaled  1864 

Dictator "  1863  .Jack  Shepard "  186:3 

Socrates "  1866  Norwood "  1868 

Gauntlet "  1867  Wilkins  Micawber "  1868 

Romulus "  1868  ludepeudent "  1859 

Sweepstakes "  1867  Hambletouiau   Star "  1865 

Squire  Talmage "  1866  Startle "  1867 


BTAE   RECORD.  255 

Twilitrht foaled  1868  Masterloae foaled  1868 

Enfield "      1868  Bolton "  1867 

Echo  . . '. "      1866,  Kearsage "  1864 

Major  Winfield "      1866  Wallkill  Chief "  1865 

Warwick "      1868  Irvington "  1870 

Lelaud "      1875 


•■o'- 


All  of  which  were  from  mares  by  Seely's  x\merican  Star,  except  Echo, 
whose  dam  was  by  Magnoha ,  a  son  of  Star.  Of  all  this  long  list 
"Wallkill  Chief,  Jay  Gould  and  Masterlode  have  foals  with  a  record  of 
2:30 — the  former  three,  and  the  latter  one  each — which  is  truly 
remarkable  in  view  of  the  ages  of  the  several  stallions  above  named, 
and  the  achievements  of  those  of  the  first  cross,  which  have  in  part 
been  shown,  and  will  more  fully  appear  in  the  following  list,  all  being 
from  mares  by  Seely's  American  Star,  except  one,  and  she  was  by  a 
son  of   Star: 

Dexter,  by  Hambletonian 2:171^  Frank  "Wood,  by  Volunteer 2:24 

K^ettie,  by    Hambletonian. . .  .2:18  (dam  by  son  of  Star) 

Huntress,  by  Volunteer 2 :20,?:|  Carrie,  by  Volimteer 2 :243^ 

Powers,  by  Volunteer 2 :213^  Driver,  by  Volunteer 2 :25 

Jay  Gould,  by  Hambletonian,  .2 :21J^  Orange  Blossom,  by  Middletown2 :263^ 

Bella,  by    Hambletonian....  2:22  California  Dexter,  by  Volunteer.  2:27 

(grandam  by  Star)  Harvest  Queen,  by  Hambletonian  2 :29% 

Trio,  by  Volunteer 2 :23L{  Sister,  by  Volunteer 2 :30i^ 


May  Bird,  by  Geo.  Wilkes 2:24 

From  which  it  will  appear  that  only  three  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian 
have  shown  any  success  with  Star  mares,  namely  Volunteer,  Middle- 
town  and  George  Wilkes — each  of  which  shows  great  similarity  in 
his  own  composition — and  of  these.  Volunteer  is  the  only  one  that 
has  more  than  a  single  representative  in  the  2:30  list;  he  there 
showing  another  proof  of  his  close  similarity  in  breeding  qualities  to 
his  imperial  sire — from  all  of  which  facts  we  may  draw  an  instructive 
lesson. 

The  remainder  of  this  chapter  must  be  devoted  to  the  deeply  inter- 
esting consideration  of  the  blood  forces  that  have  been  marked  with 
such  rare  success,  and  such  peculiar  manfestations  in  combination 
with  the  blood  and  organism  of  Hambletonian.  Owing  to  the  fact 
that  Hambletonian  lived  in  the  same  county  in  which  Seely's  Amer- 
ican Star  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  the  opportunities  for  a 
union  of  the  two  bloods  were  rendered  easy  and  abundant.  As  the 
chief  fame  of  Hambletonian  rests  with  his  sons,  so  the  reputation  of 
American  Star  is  chiefly  derived  from  his  daughters.  He  died  in 
17 


256  STAR-HAMBLETONIANS. 

Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1861,  and  the  following  is  a  partial  list  of 
his  immediate  offspring,  well  known  to  the  public  in  that  region: 

Jenny  Hawkins,  sister  to  Magnolia. 

Widow  Macliree,  dam  of  Aberdeen. 

Julia  Maclaree,  dam  of  Enfield. 

Montgomeiy  Maid,  dam  of  Bolton. 

Lady  Sanford,  dam  of  Jay  Gould. 

Lady  Brown,  dam  of  Wilkins  Micawber. 

Lady  Sears,  dam  of  Huntress,  Sister  and  Trio. 

Dolly  Mills,  dam  of  Wallkill  Chief. 

Lizzie  Walker,  dam  of  Startle. 

Lady  Fallis,  dam  of  Socrates  and  Norwood. 

Dam  of  Dexter. 

Lady  Whitman. 

Silvertail. 

Goshen  Maid. 

Peerless. 

Dam  of  Squire  Talmage. 

One  Eye. 

Maggie  Kernochan. 

Emma  Mills,  dam  of  Independent  and  Sweepstakes. 

Dam  o#  Nettie. 

Laura  Keene,  dam  of  Jack  Shepard. 

Imogene,  dam  of  Irvington  and  Leland. 

SONS. 

Magnolia. 

Pierson's  Star. 

Conklin's  Star. 

Goldsmith's  Star. 

Abdallah  Star  (a  grandson). 

Henry,  sire  of  Lady  Star. 

Star,  sire  of  Bonner  and  John  D.  Benton. 

Lefevre's  Star,  sire  of  dam  of  Frank  Wood. 

Star  of  Catskill. 

He  also  numbers  the  following  trotters,  with  records  as  follows: 

Bonner,  by  son  of  Star 2:23 

Lady  Star,  by  Heniy,  sire  of  Star .2 :24 

Bonner,  by  Star  of  Catskill,  son  of  Star 2 :24^ 

Brown  Dick,  by  son  of  Star 2 :25|^ 

Magnolia,  by  Magnolia,  son  of  Star 2 :26^ 

Widow  Machree 2 :29 

Bolly  Lewis 2 :29i^ 

•  Star,  by  Conklin's  Star,  sire  of  Star 2 :30 

The  characteristics  of  all  this  family  have  been  already  clearly 
pointed  out  in  the  eflfect  they  have  had  on  the  Hambletonian  blood. 


SEELY'S   AMERICAN   STAR.  257 

in  the  generally  reduced  size  of  the  animal,  the  sloping  rump,  very 
muscular  quarters  and  thighs,  and  defective  legs  and  feet,  many  of 
them  being  over  at  the  knees,  and  exceedingly  shaky  and  unsound 
below  the  knee  and  hock,  and  the  frequency  of  white  faces  and  white 
legs.  In  all  these  particulars  it  must  be  apparent  that  the  uniformity 
of  color  and  markings  which  distinguish  the  Bellfounder  blood  has 
been  greatly  overcome  by  this  cross,  and  that  the  unrivaled  soundness 
of  feet  and  legs  of  the  Messenger,  Bellfounder  and  Abdallah  families 
has  encountered  a  serious  and  deeply-seated  blood  defect  in  the  Star 
family,  which  their  own  uniform  and  marvelous  superiority  has  not 
been  able  to  overcome. 

Furthermore,  the  straight  rump  and  elevated  croup  has  been  com- 
pelled to  yield,  in  great  part,  to  one  that  droops  and  carries  the  seat 
of  power,  in  a  greatly  concentrated  form,  to  a  point  lower  down  on 
the  haunches  and  nearer  to  the  hocks.  From  what  source  did  Ameri- 
can Star  obtain  qualities  so  marked,  so  positive  and  so  powerful  as  to 
overcome  so  much  of  the  form  and  vital  forces  of  the  staunchest  fam- 
ily that  ever  trod  the  soil  of  the  American  continent? 

Seelv's  American  Star  was  foaled  in  1837,  and  lived  to  the  ase  of 
24  years.  He  was  by  Stockholm's  American  Star  (a  son  of  Duroc),  a 
horse  that,  we  are  told,  was  foaled  in  1822,  and  owned  and  run  as  a 
race-horse,  and  in  1836,  at  the  age  of  14  years,  produced  Seely's 
American  Star.  He  left  no  other  produce  to  distinguish  him,  and  left 
no  other  traces  of  the  very  remarkable  qualities  which  have  distin- 
guished the  second  Star  and  all  of  his  descendants  to  the  present  day. 
We  must,  therefore,  look  to  the  dam  of  Seely's  American  Star.  She 
was  the  mare  known  as  Sally  Slouch,  by  Henry,  and  her  dam  waa 
by  imported  Messenger.  Of  this  mare  we  have  no  other  information 
than  that  furnished  by  the  two  lines  of  blood  from  which  she  came. 
Her  sire  was  the  very  noted  champion  of  the  South,  in  1823,  that  ran 
against  American  Eclipse,  on  Long  Island,  the  most  memorable  race 
of  American  turf  history.  American  Eclipse,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  a  large  horse,  15  hands  2  to  3  inches  in  height,  and  of  great 
power  and  substance — a  son  of  Duroc,  and  a  grandson  of  Messenger — 
and  was  matched  by  the  champions  of  the  Northern  running  turf 
against  anything  the  Virginia  or  Southern  gentlemen  could  bring 
against  him.  They  brought  Henry,  son  of  the  great  Sir  Archy,  dam 
by  Diomed.  If  Sir  Archy  was  by  Diomed,  Henry  would  be  a 
double  grandson  of  imported  Diomed.  Diomed  was  sire  of  Duroo; 
but  like  parentage  does  not  always  make  like  blood  or  like  descend- 


258  STAR-IIAMBLETONIAISrS. 

ants — a  lesson  which  some  breeders  and  writers  are  slow  to  learn. 
The  following-  description  of  Henry  is  copied  from  Coldeii's  Maga- 
zine^ 1834: 

Henky  is  of  a  dark  sorrel  or  chestnut  color,  with  one  hind  foot  white  and  a 
small  star  in  the  forehead ;  his  mane  and  tail  about  two  shades  lighter  than 
that  of  his  body.  He  has  been  represented  as  fifteen  hands  and  one  inch  high, 
but  having  taken  his  measure,  his  exact  height  is  only  fourteeii  hands  three  ami 
a  half  inches.  His  form  is  compact,  bordering  upon  what  is  termed  "  pony- 
built,"  with  good  shoulders,  fine,  clean  head,  and  all  those  points  which  con- 
stitute a  fine  forehand ;  his  barrel  is  strong  and  well  ribbed  up  toward  the 
hip ;  his  waist  rather  short ;  chine  bone  strong,  rising  or  arched  a  little  over 
the  loin,  indicative  of  ability  to  carry  weight ;  sway  short ;  the  loin  full  and 
strong,  haunches  strong  and  well  let  down;  hindquarters  somewhat  high,  and 
sloping  ojf  from  the  couiMng  to  the  croup;  thighs  full  andmusculao',withoxithemg 
fleshy ;  hocks  or  houghs  strong,  wide  and  pretty  well  let  down ;  legs  remark- 
ably fine,  with  a  full  proportion  of  bone ;  back  sinew  or  Achilles  tendon  large, 
and  well  detached  from  the  cannon-bone ;  stands  firm,  clear  and  even ;  moves 
remarkably  well  with  his  feet  in  line;  possesses  great  action  and  muscular 
power,  and,  although  rather  under  size,  the  exquisite  symmetry  of  his  form  indicates 
uncommon  strength. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  in  the  memorable  race  with  Eclipse, 
Henry  ran  his  four  miles  and  won  the  first  heat  in  7  minutes  37-^  sec- 
onds; Eclipse  winning  the  next  two  heats  and  the  race.  The  owner 
of  Henry,  Col.  Johnson,  styled  in  those  days  the  Napoleon  of  the 
Turf,  was  not  present  at  the  race;  and  so  confident  were  he  and  the 
Southern  party  that  Henry  was  superior  to  Eclipse,  that  they  imme- 
diately challenged  the  owner  of  Eclipse  to  run  another  race,  for  a 
stake  of  $20,000,  and  the  challenge  was  declined.  It  has  always  been 
claimed  that  Henry  ran  with  overweight  for  his  age,  viz.,  108  pounds, 
lacking  nearly  a  month  of  being  four  years  of  age.  According  to  the 
present  regulations  of  Northern  courses,  a  four-year-old  should  only 
carry  104  j)ounds;  and,  according  to  the  regulations  existing  at  that 
time  in  Virginia  and  the  Southern  States,  100  pounds  was  the  required 
weight.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  this  undersized  horse,  not  yet  quite 
four  years  old,  was  made  to  carry  fi-om  four  to  eight  pounds  overweight. 
Hence  it  was  alwaj^s  claimed  by  many  that  the  performance  of  Henry, 
though  beaten  in  the  race,  stamped  him  as  the  best  race-horse  of  his 
day.  It  may  be  added,  that  he  continued  on  the  turf  for  two  years 
longer,  and  was  matched  against  Flirtilla  for  four  mile  heats,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1825,  smdiwent  lame  in  his  feet.,  and  wa^  withdrawn  from 
the  turf  for  that  cause. 

I  think  it  will  not  be  difficult  now  to  determine  the  source  of  all 


HENRY   AND   DIOMED.  259 

the  elements  that  constituted  Seely's  American  Star,  and  that  give  to 
the  Hambletonians  of  the  Star  cross  their  very  remarkable  peculiarities, 
which  we  have  noticed  in  the  foregoing  pages.  We  clearly  recognize 
the  Duroc  element  in  the  elongated  thigh,  and  the  wide,  open  gait  of 
the  entire  Star  family.  From  the  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  blood 
came  all  the  trotting  quality  which  the  Stars  possessed;  for  although 
I  sometimes  speak  of  the  trotting  quality  of  the  Duroc  blood,  I  refer 
only  to  a  conformation  of  physical  proportions  that  adapted  them  to 
the  trotting  gait.  I  think  this  is  all  the  trotting  quality  that  Duroc 
had,  or  could  transmit.  As  to  the  Henry  blood,  which  was  a  very  near 
and  positive  controlling  element  in  Star,  I  do  not  believe  there  was 
one  particle  of  trotting  quality  in  it,  except  the  transcendent  power 
of  muscle  which  was  the  great  propelling  power  of  the  animal;  the 
form  or  manner  of  whose  going,  however,  was  regulated  and  controlled 
by  the  operation  of  the  two  other  blood  forces  that  entered  into  the 
combination.  Henry  stood  for  the  most  of  his  life,  after  his  racing 
days  were  over,  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  and  left,  in  that  State 
and  New  Jersey,  many  descendants,  but  never  produced  a  trotter,  or  a 
sire  or  dam  of  trotters,  without  the  aid  of  other  crosses,  from  which 
the  trotting  inclination  was  derived. 

We  often  hear  of  the  great  value  of  the  blood  of  Diomed  in  the 
trotter.  I  do  not  think  there  was  a  particle  of  trotting  blood  in  any 
member  of  the  Diomed  family  except  in  this — that  this  family,  like 
other  thoroughbred  families,  was  full  of  courage  and  stamina,  and  of 
such  a  nervous  temperament  and  organization  as  to  compel  speed  at 
whatever  gait  they  chose.  I  here  recur  again  to  the  words  of  the 
writer  before  referred  to: 

Are  we  to  believe  that  all  this  concentrated  King  Herod  blood  in  the  sire  of 
Dexter's  dam  was  neutralized  by  one  cross  of  Messenger  in  Star's  grandam  ? 

No,  sir;  if  there  was  any  neutralizing,  it  was  the  blood  of  Henry  that 
neutralized  all  other.  But  it  did  not  neutralize  the  other  blood  forces; 
it  asserted  its  predominance  in  certain  places  in  the  outward  form,  in 
the  diminished  stature,  in  the  defective  feet  and  legs,  and  in  the  mus- 
cular conformation  of  the  quarters,  and  in  many  other  particulars. 
But  Duroc  rarely  relinquishes  his  right  to  insert  a  long  thigh  and  a 
wide,  open  gait,  in  any  combination  whatever;  and  the  trotting  quality 
of  the  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  blood — that  which  imparts  a  ten- 
dency or  inclination  to  trot — refused  to  yield,  in  the  first  and  second, 
and  even  in  the  third  crosses,  to  that  of  the  almost  invincible  Henry; 
and,  in  my  opinion,  the  question  as  to  which  of  these  two  will  be 


260  STAR-HAMBLETONIANS. 

supreme  in  future  combinations,  simply  depends  on  the  question  of 
reinforcements.  If  the  Henry  blood  receives  any,  even  very  small, 
augmentation,  from  in-breeding  or  otherwise,  it  will  certainly  come 
out  ahead. 

As  it  is  clearly  my  belief  that  the  dam  of  Everett  was  a  mare  of 
Henry  blood,  if  I  be  asked  for  my  opinion  as  to  why  Everett  has  been 
more  successful  than  all  the  Star-Hambletonian  stallions  combined,  I 
answer,  that  the  blood  of  Henry  in  the  Star  cross  being  reinforced  by 
its  kindred  Diomed  blood  in  the  Duroc  strain,  gave  it  more  absolute 
sway.  And,  furthermore,  the  reason  Avhy  the  Star  cross  found  such  a 
happy  nick  for  trotting  purposes  with  that  of  Hambletonian,  was  on 
account  of  the  overpowering  reinforcement  of  Messenger  blood,  aug- 
mented by  its  kindred  strains  of  Bellfounder,  concentrated  in  the  Old 
Imperial.  And  from  this  point,  thus  gained,  I  would  teach  the  lesson 
derived  from  this  most  interesting  subject:  My  advice  is,  take  your 
Star  and  Hambletonian-Star  mares  to  Volunteer  and  Middletown, 
Wilkes  and  Administrator,  Florida  and  Kickerbocker,  and  take  your 
mares  by  these  stallions  to  Startle  and  Leland,  Jay  Gould  and  Aber- 
deen; but  do  not  take  Star  to  Star.  As  Henry  was  the  dynamite  that 
propelled  the  charge,  and  Messenger  and  Duroc  the  gun  of  long  range 
and  steady  aim  that  directed  the  shot,  beware  lest  the  dynamite  over- 
power your  artillery;  for  in  such  a  case  you  know  not  in  what  direc- 
tion the  force  of  the  explosive  may  be  expended.  Bear  in  mind  that 
while,  in  the  first  great  contest,  Henry  came  within  one  of  beating  the 
Duroc  Messenger,  there  were  many  who  thought  he  could  beat  him 
easily  if  he  tried  again.  In  my  opinion,  if  the  trial  be  continued,  the 
triumph  may  be  on  that  side.  The  Henry  blood  is  only  a  trotting 
element  when  held  in  proper  subjection  by  that  of  Messenger  and 
Bellfounder. 

Seely's  American  Star  lived  to  the  age  of  twenty-four  years  and 
died  fifteen  years  before  the  death  of  Hambletonian,  so  that  it  may  be 
almost  said  he  belonged  to  a  period  or  generation  anterior  to  that  of 
Hambletonian.  He  numbers  to-day  eight  lineal  descendants  in  the 
2:30  list — two  of  which  were  his  own  produce,  and  six  by  sons,  but 
not  a  single  2:30  trotter  by  a  grandson.  The  trotting  quality  did 
not  seem  to  retain  the  power  to  maintain  its  supremacy  beyond  two 
generations.  The  once  depreciated  Clay  family  continue  to  bring  out 
trotters  in  2:25  in  the  fourth  generation  from  Henry  Clay,  and  in  the 
sixth  from  young  Bashaw,  the  founder  of  the  family. 


YOUNG   EVERETTS.  261 


SONS    OF    EDWARD    EVERETT. 


Edward  Everett  has  not  a  large  number  of  sons  that  are  stallions. 
One  of  the  most  promismg  colts  I  have  seen  anywhere  was,  when  I 
saw  him,  two  years  old — now  four.  He  is  from  Ruth,  by  Hamble- 
tonian;  her  dam,  a  fast  Canadian  mare,  known  as  the  Urummond 
mare,  purchased  by  Mr.  Bonner  near  Montreal.  She  trotted  in  2:26^ 
against  Live  Oak.  Ruth,  the  dam,  is  also  a  fast  trotting  mare,  and  she 
presents  the  blood  of  Hambletonian  in  good  form,  and  in  her  son  by 
Everett  there  is  presented  an  in-bred  stallion,  with  excellent  form,  a 
very  muscular  organization,  and  a  long  line  of  real  trotting  instinct, 
which  would  seem  to  have  blended  in  fine  degree.  This  colt  will 
most  likely  be  no  discredit  to  his  parentage. 

He  has  another  son,  out  of  Mildred,  by  Hambletonian;  2d  dam, 
Linda,  by  the  Abel  horse,  son  of  Smith  Burr's  Napoleon;  3d  dam, 
represented  to  be  by  Ohio  Eclipse.  This  should  also  be  a  horse  of 
trotting  and  breeding  excellence. 

He  has  another  son  in  Canada,  out  of  Lady  Shannon,  by  Harris' 
Hambletonian.  He  was  bred  by  a  gentleman  in  New  York,  and  is 
said  to  be  very  fast.  He  has  another  son  named  Montezuma;  his 
dam  is  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  and  he  was  a  fast  three  and  four- 
year-old.    From  his  breeding,  he  should  make  a  valuable  stallion. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

ALEXANDER'S  ABDALLAH  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 

Fame  belongs  not  alone  to  the  living — the  dead,  although  they 
shine  not  with  living  splendor,  deserve  honorable  mention  when  the 
world  has  been  benefited  by  their  Hves. 

In  the  year  1851,  there  lived,  in  the  village  of  Warwick,  in  Orange 
county,  N.  Y.,  a  little  bay  mare,  15  hands  1  inch  in  height,  of  a  gamy, 
wiry  look,  that  had  endured  ill  usage,  and  could  only  stand  on  three 
of  her  feet,  the  other  leg  having  been  broken  or  dislocated  at  the 
ankle.  She  was  a  trotter  of  some  repute,  but  accident  and  misfortune 
had  left  her  in  the  disabled  state  above  described.  She  was  famil- 
iarly known  in  the  vicinity  of  her  owner,  Mr.  Lewis  J.  Sutton,  as  Katy 
Darling,  and  often  trotted,  cripple  though  she  was,  in  about  three 
minutes,  and  won  small  purses,  made  up  for  these  occasions.  Of  her 
pedigree,  or  breeding,  it  must  be  said,  nothing  can  be  stated  with  any 
degree  of  certainty.  She  has  been  said  to  have  been  a  daughter  of 
Bay  Roman,  and  that  her  dam  was  by  Young  Mambrino,  son  of  Mam- 
brino.  Bay  Roman  was  by  imp.  Roman,  from  the  Pinckney  Mare, 
said  to  have  been  by  Hickory,  and  Hickory's  dam  was  by  Mambrino — • 
but  it  must  be  stated  that  no  part  of  this  alleged  pedigree  of  the  mare 
can  be  satisfactorily  authenticated;  I  give  it  as  it  has  come  dovra,  and 
can  only  add,  that  the  qualities  of  the  mare  go  as  far  as  anything  else 
to  render  it  probable.  She  was  raised  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  was,  beyond  doubt,  highly  bred.  In  her  crippled  and 
almost  deformed  condition,  she  was  sent  to  a  young  stallion,  then  two 
years  and  three  months  old,  and  was  one  of  four  mares  received  by 
him  as  a  two-year-old.  That  stallion  was  the  afterward  celebrated 
Hambletonian. 

On  the  32d  day  of  September,  1852,  this  mare  foaled,  and  her  colt 
grew  to  be  a  nice  bay  stallion  about  15  hands  3  inches  in  height, 
with  one  hind  foot  white,  and  was  a  natural  trotter  by  his  mother's 

(262) 


WAR   AT   WOODBURN.  263 

side  in  his  coltliood.  He  was  much  admired,  and  sold  for  §500,  when 
one  year  and  five  months  old,  to  Mr.  Hezekiah  Hoyt  and  Major  Edsall, 
both  of  the  same  county.  Subseqviently  he  became  the  exclusive 
property  of  Mr,  Edsall,  and  was  known  as  Edsall's  Hambletonian. 

In  1856,  at  the  age  of  four  years,  from  a  mare  by  old  Abdallah,  he 
produced  Goldsmith  JNIaid.  When  seven  years  old,  he  was  sold  to 
Joseph  Love,  of  Cynthiana,  Ky.,  for  about  $3,000,  and  taken  to  the 
latter  place  about  the  1st  of  March,  1859.  He  made  four  seasons  at 
his  new  Kentucky  home,  the  first  two  at  $25,  and  the  last  two  at  $30. 
In  the  fall  of  1862  he  Avas  sold  to  R.  A.  Alexander,  the  distinguished 
breeder  and  proprietor  of  "  Woodburn  Farm,"  in  "Woodford  county, 
Ky.,  the  price  paid  being  the  stallion  Forest  Temple  and  $2,000  in 
money.  Among  the  pi'oduce  of  his  first  season  in  Kentucky  was  the 
bay  stallion  Jim  Monroe;  and  he  has  produced  Lady  Monroe,  with  a 
record  of  2:30^,  and  D.  Monroe,  with  a  record  of  2:34.  The  second 
season,  from  Lydia  Talbot  by  Taylor  Messenger,  he  produced  Pacing 
Abdallah,  now  owned  by  W.  H.  Wilson,  of  Cynthiana.  During  his 
first  season  with  Mr.  Alexander,  in  1863,  from  a  mare  by  Mambrino 
Chief,  he  produced  Almont,  and  during  the  next  season,  from  a  mare 
also  by  Mambrino  Chief,  he  produced  Thorndale,  2:22|-.  Besides  the 
above,  in  his  brief  terra  of  stud  service,  he  produced  Rosalind,  now 
with  a  record  of  2:21f ;  Major  Edsall,  with  a  record  of  2:29;  and  St. 
Elmo,  with  a  record  of  2:30;  Belmont,  Abdallah  Pilot,  and  others. 
After  passing  into  the  hands  of  the  proprietor  of  "  Woodburn,"  his  name 
was  changed  to  that  of  Alexander's  Abdallah.  As  he  was  a  young 
stallion,  and  not  yet  famous  as  a  sire  of  trotters,  he  is  not  credited 
with  a  very  large  list  of  produce.  Before  any  of  his  sons  or 
daughters  had  become  known  to  fame,  their  sire — afterward  to  be- 
come as  celebrated  as,  and  to  add  additional  lustre  to  the  renown  of, 
Hambletonian — was  cut  off;  and  in  his  premature  death,  the  horrors 
of  civil  war  added  another  to  the  irreparable  losses  this  country 
has  sustained  in  our  memorable  internecine  strife.  On  the  2d  day  of 
February,  1865,  about  6  o'clock,  p.  M.,  a  band  of  guerrillas,  under  one 
Marion,  visited  "  Woodburn,"  and  took  several  horses,  among  them 
Bay  Chief,  a  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  Abdallah.  They  encamped 
about  twelve  miles  from  "  Woodburn,"  where  they  were  attacked  by  a 
Federal  force  early  the  next  morning,  and  routed,  the  horses  being 
recaptured.  Bay  Chief  was  shot  in  several  places  during  the  fight, 
and  died  from  his  wounds  in  about  ten  days.  Abdallah  was  seized  by 
a  Federal  soldier,  who  refused  to  release  him.     The  horse  was  unshod. 


264        Alexander's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

and  in  no  condition  for  severe  usage;  nevertheless,  in  this  plight,  he 
was  ridden  by  the  soldier  over  the  roughest  of  stony  and  hilly  roads, 
nearly  fifty  miles  on  that  day,  and,  becoming  exhausted,  was  turned 
loose  on  the  highway,  and  found,  on  the  next  day,  in  a  most  deplor- 
able state.  He  was  taken  to  Lawrenceburgh,  but  could  go  no  further, 
and  was  seized  with  pneumonia,  from  which  he  died  in  a  few  days. 
Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  the  life  that  was  thus  thrown  away 
through  ignorance  and  perversity?  If  Hambletonian  had  left  no 
descendants  other  than  the  produce  of  this  son,  his  renown  as  a  trotting 
sire  would  have  claimed  a  bright  page  in  American  turf  history.  The 
record  of  the  prowess  of  one  daughter  on  the  trotting  turf,  and  the 
fame  of  one  son  as  a  trotting  sire,  are  sufficient  to  make  a  turf  history 
for  a  nation.  The  splendid  achievements  of  the  one,  and  the  rich  and 
varied  successes  of  the  other,  show  what  marvelous  qualities  were 
carried  by  the  sire  that  was  cut  off  in  the  beginnuig  of  a  career  that 
would  have  shed  a  lustre  on  the  breeding  annals  of  this  country,  and 
probably  not  have  been  surpassed  by  that  of  any  stallion  we  have 
ever  produced. 

The  following  list  of  his  own  produce  deserves  particular  notice : 

Goldsmith  Maid. 

Major  Edsaxl. 

Wood's  Hambletonian". 

Pacing  Abdallah. 

Saint  Elmo. 

Abdallah  Pilot. 

Ewalt's  Abdallah. 

Belmont. 

Thorndale. 

Almont. 

goldsmith   maid, 

The  Queen  of  the  Trotting  Turf,  was  foaled  in  1857,  and  is  now 
nineteen  years  old.  She  was  bred  by  John  B.  Decker,  of  Sussex 
county,  N.  J.  Her  dam  was  one  of  those  yellow-bay  mares  so  common 
in  the  produce  of  old  Abdallah.  She  was  undersized,  fretful,  and  of 
a  nervous  temperament,  and  up  to  the  age  of  six  years  had  performed 
no  M'ork  of  any  kind,  except  to  run  occasional  races  about  and  on  the 
farm,  for  the  amusement  of  the  boys.  In  1863  she  was  sold  by  Mr. 
Decker  for$2G0;  the  purchaser  selling  her  again,  on  the  same  day,  to  Mr. 
Tompkins,  for  1360;  and  she  was  soon  afterward  bought  by  Mr.  Alden 
Goldsmith,  for  $600.     The  eye  of  the  practical  horseman  discovered 


THE  TKOTTING  QUEEN.  265 

that  she  was  worth  the  handling.  He  discovered  her  ability,  and  soon 
brought  the  world  to  a  knowledge  of  her  value.  Under  his  careful 
and  patient  management,  and  the  skillful  drivers  employed  by  him, 
«he  soon  displayed  such  speed  and  extraordinary  qualities  of  game 
■and  endurance,  that  he  was  able  to  sell  her,  at  about  the  age  of  eleven 
years,  for  the  sum  of  $20,000.  The  purchasers  were  B.  Jackman  and 
Mr.  Budd  Doble,  and,  under  the  guidance  of  the  latter,  she  has  stead- 
ily advanced  in  a  career  of  fame  that  is  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  trotting  turf.  She  was  subsequently  sold,  by  the  two 
gentlemen  last  named,  to  H.  N.  Smith,  for  the  sum  of  $37,000,  and 
yet  remains  his  property.  She  has  been  matched  against  all  the  great 
trotters  of  her  period;  and,  while  she  has  occasionally  lost  a  race, 
she  has  ultimately  vanquished  all  competitors,  and  steadily  lowered 
the  record  for  trotting  performances,  and,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
marked  the  marvelous,  and  thus  far  unapproachable,  record  of  a  mile 
in  2:14. 

Twice  during  the  year  1876  she  trotted  in  a  race  in  2:15,  and 
•althouo-h  in  her  first  race  asrainst  the  renowned  Smuffffler  she  was 
beaten,  she  by  no  means  surrendered  her  queenly  sceptre,  for  again,  at 
Buffalo,  she  asserted  her  supremacy  in  the  three  fastest  successive 
heats  on  record.  Proudly  does  she  command  the  sympathy  and  ap- 
plause of  all  beholders  when  she  hurls  at  her  powerful  competitor 
the  defiant  challenge,  "  You  may  become  King,  but  I  am  yet 
Queen." 

It  were  useless  to  mention  the  names  and  performances  of  others; 
there  is  no  name  that  can  be  comj^ared  with  that  of  the  little  bay  mare; 
the  fame  and  the  radiance  of  all  others  pale  before  the  brilliancy 
of  a  renown  that  followed  her  to  the  age  of  twenty  years,  and  has 
been  -witnessed  on  every  great  course  throughout  the  expanse  of  a 
continent.  I  subjoin  a  description  of  the  Trotting  Queen  from  the 
pen  of  one  of  our  most  accurate  and  capable  writers: 

Goldsmith.  Maid  is  a  bay  mare  15^  hands,  no  white.  She  appears,  at  first 
glance,  to  be  rather  delicately  made,  but  this  conception  is  drawn  from  the 
form  rather  than  the  quality  of  her  make-up.  Her  head  and  neck  are  very 
■clean  and  blood-like;  her  shoulder  sloping  and  well  placed;  middle  piece 
tolerably  deep  at  the  girth,  but  so  light  in  the  waist  as  to  give  her  a  tucked- 
up  appearance,  and  one  would  say  a  lack  of  constitution,  but  for  the  abundant 
■evidence  to  the  contrary;  loin  and  coupling  good;  quarters  of  the  greyhound 
■order — broad  and  sinewy;  her  limbs  are  clean,  fine-boned  and  wiry;  feet 
rather  small,  but  of  good  quality.  She  is  high  mettled,  and  takes  an  abund- 
ance of  work  without  flinching.     In  her  highest  trotting  form,  drawn  to  an 


266  ALEXANDER'S   ABDALLAH   AND   DESCENDANTS. 

edge,  she  is  almost  deer-like  in  appearance,  and  when  scoring  for  a  start  and 
alive  to  the  emergencies  of  the  race,  with  her  great  flashing  eye  and  dilated 
nostrils,  she  is  a  perfect  picture  of  animation  and  living  beauty.  Her  gait 
is  long,  bold  and  sweeping,  and  she  is,  in  the  hands  of  a  driver  acquainted 
with  her  peculiarities,  a  perfect  piece  of  machinery.  She  seldom  makes  an 
out-and-out  break,  but  frequently  makes  a  skij},  and  has  been  accused  of 
losing  nothing  in  either  case.  Aside  from  the  distinction  of  having  trotted 
the  fastest  mile  on  record,  she  also  enjoys  the  honor  of  making  the  fastest 
three  consecutive  heats  ever  won  in  a  race,  which  renders  any  comments 
upon  her  staying  qualities  unnecessary. 

She  continued  on  the  turf  until  past  twenty  years  old,  and  after 
completing  that  age  she  closed  her  public  career  with  the  year  1877 
by  trotting  during  that  year  forty-one  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and 
makino-  a  time  record  of  2:144-.  Her  record  stands  at  the  close  of 
her  career  at  2:14,  with  332  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  Her  record  and 
her  career  are  the  marvel  of  the  age. 

MAJOR    EDSALL. 

This  stallion  was  foaled  in  1859.  He  has  been  owned  in  Ulster 
county,  New  York.  He  trotted  two  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  made 
a  record  of  2:29.  He  is  now  nineteen  years  old,  and  has  no  produce 
to  add  to  the  renow-n  or  swell  the  list  of  credits  that  follow  the  name 
of  his  sire.     Has  dam  was  a  Star  mare.     Was  this  the  reason? 

wood's  hambletoxian. 

This  stallion  is  a  roan,  and  was  foaled  in  1858;  his  dam  said  to  have 
been  a  Morgan  mare.  He  is  owned  at  Knoxville,  Tioga  county.  Pa.,, 
by  Messrs.  W.  C  &  J.  Wood.  He  has  to  his  credit  Billy  Ray,  record 
of  2:23f,  and  3  heats;  Blue  Mare,  2:23,  and  14  heats;  Kilburn  Jim> 
2:23,  and  12  heats;  Nancy  Hackett,  2:27f,  and  2  heats. 

PACING    ABDALLAH. 

This  is  an  elegant  and  blood-like  horse,  dark  bay  in  color,  with  fine 
head,  neck,  body  and  limbs,  and  showing  more  of  the  real,  highly 
finished  blood  horse  than  either  of  the  other  two  distinguished  sons 
of  Alexander's  Abdallah.  He  was  foaled  in  1861,  and,  as  he  was  a 
natural  pacer  and  never  trotted  in  his  Hfe,  it  was  thought  by  the  Ken- 
tuckians  that  he  would  never  answer  for  the  purpose  of  breeding 
roadsters.  Hence  he  was  used  as  a  teaser  for  a  jack  until  1873,  when 
twelve  years  old.  Nevertheless,  attracted  by  his  high  finish  and 
blood-like  form,  he  occasionally  received  a  pretty  good   mare,  more 


PACING   ABDALLAH.  267 

for  the  reason  that  the  saddle  gaits  were  popular  in  that  country  than 
from  any  idea  of  raising  trotters.  In  time  it  transpired  that  his 
produce  were  becoming  trotters  and  showing  promise  of  speed.  EVom 
an  old  grey  mare  of  unknown  blood  he  produced  Sand  Hill,  a  horse 
that  met  with  an  accident  and  has  been  a  cripple  all  his  life,  but  has  a 
record  of  2:31.  Several  mares  by  Pacing  Abdallah  have  been  found 
to  be  superior  roadsters,  and  have  lately  been  put  to  breeding,  and 
their  produce  from  other  trotting  sires  are  giving  great  promise  of 
success.  Since  his  produce  have  begun  to  attract  attention  he  has 
passed  into  the  hands  and  ownership  of  W.  H.  Wilson,  of  Cynthiana, 
Kentucky,  and  bids  fair  to  establish  his  claim  to  being  the  most  noted 
instance  of  a  pacing  grandson  of  Hambletonian  and  a  royal  member 
of  the  household  of  the  Trotting  Queen. 

SAINT   ELMO. 

This  was  a  brown  horse,  bred  by  R.  A.  Alexander,  and  the  dam 
was  called  a  mare  of  Bellfounder  blood;  but  this  goes  for  nothing,  as 
there  never  was  anything  to  show  that  she  was  in  any  way  related  to 
the  Bellfounder  blood.  He  made  one  heat  in  2:30,  and  was  since 
owned  by  Sprague  and  Akers,  in  Kansas,  but  has  not  contributed 
anything  to  the  trotting  reputation  of  the  family.  He  was  a  good- 
looking  horse,  and  his  stock  are  generally  of  good  size  and  form. 

ABDALLAH    PILOT. 

His  dam  was  the  mare  Blandina  by  Mambrino  Chief.  He  is  sire 
of  Red  Jim,  that  at  three  years  old  had  a  record  of  2:38,  and  two 
heats  in  2:30  or  better.  He  is  a  good-looking,  well-formed  horse,  that 
shows  strength  and  fine  breeding. 

EW alt's  abdallah. 

Dixie,  better  known  as  Ewalt's  Abdallah,  is  a  chestnut  stallion  (no 
white),  bred  by  Jos.  H.  Ewalt,  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky,  foaled 
May  15,  1861;  1st  dam  Jennie,  by  Coeur  de  Leon;  2d  dam  a  French 
Canadian  mare  brought  from  Canada.  Coeur  de  Leon  was  a  French 
Canadian  stalHon,  imported  from  Canada  iDy  Dr.  L.  Herr,  of  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.  The  only  position  assumed  by  this  horse  is  in  being  the 
sire  of  the  dam  of  the  stallion  Don  Carlos,  by  Alexander's  Norman, 
which  promises  to  be  a  fast  trotter  and  a  valuable  staUion.  An 
account  of  him  will  be  given  in  the  chapter  on  Blackwood  and 
Swigert. 


268  ALEXANDER'S   ABDALLAH   AND   DESCENDANTS. 


BELlVrONT. 


This  horse  was  foaled  in  1864.  He  was  bred  by  R.  A.  Alexander^ 
at  Woodburn  Farm,  Kentucky,  and  is  now  owned  by  A.  J.  Alexan- 
der, the  proprietor  of  Woodburn.  His  dam  was  Belle,  by  Mambrino- 
Chief;  2d  dam  by  Ohio  Bellfounder.  He  is  a  light  bay,  with  black 
points,  of  very  compact  form,  and  muscular  body  and  superior  limbs. 
He  is  a  fine-appearing  horse  in  harness,  carrying  his  head  and  tail  at 
fine  elevation,  and  displaying  great  style  and  spirit.  At  one  period 
he  was  regarded  as  the  most  promising  stallion  of  the  Blue  Grass- 
region;  but  he  has  not  wholly  maintained  the  high  promise  with 
which  he  started  out — not  so  much  because  he  has  fallen  below,  aa 
because  the  others  have  gone  above.  He  is  the  sire  of  several  very 
promising  young  trotters,  and  with  many  is  at  all  times  a  favorite  sire. 
He  has  to  his  credit  Dick  Moore,  2:29,  and  four  heats  in  2:30  or  bet- 
ter; Nil  Desperandum,  2:24^,  and  eleven  heats;  and  Nutwood,  2:23^^ 
and  twenty  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  Belmont  has  no  public  record, 
but  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  trotter  worthy  of  his  sire  and  his  other 


distinguished  kindred. 


THORNDALE. 


Thorndale  was  foaled  in  May,  1865,  was  bred  by  Dr.  J.  R.  Adams, 
near  Georgetown,  Ky.,  and  sold,  in  1868,  to  Edwin  Thorne,  Esq.,  of 
Duchess  county,  N.  Y.  His  first  dam  was  a  bay  mare,  foaled  in  1860, 
by  Mambrino  Chief;  second  dam  by  a  son  of  Potomac;  and  his  third 
dam  by  Saxe  Weimar;  the  two  latter  being  thoroughbred  crosses 
running  back  to  imp.  Diomed.  Thorndale  is  a  bright  bay  stallion^ 
with  white  hind  feet,  15  hands  1^  inches  in  height.  His  general 
appearance  and  make-up  is  Hambletonian — the  only  place  where  his 
Mambrino  Chief  blood  stands  out  clearly  to  view  is  in  his  head,  which 
is  one  inch  longer,  and  across  the  hips,  which,  from  centre  to  centre, 
are  one  inch  wider  than  the  Hambletonian  standard.  He  shows  great 
finish,  and  quality  of  the  highest  order.  His  form  is  what  is  called 
close  and  compact,  and  rather  pony-built.  He  is  exactly  the  same 
height  on  the  withers  and  on  the  rump.  His  limbs  are  of  the  clean, 
flat  and  blood-like  pattern;  his  forearm  muscular,  and  his  hock  of  the 
clearest  and  best  model;  and  in  the  thighs,  quarters  and  haunches  he 
is  exceedingly  strong.  A  writer  in  the  second  volume  of  The  Horses 
of  America^  says  that  "  he  has  greater  length  from  the  point  of  the 
hip  to  the  whirlbone,  and  thence  to  the  hock,  than  any  other  trotting 
stallion  known  to  the  writer."     This  is  perhaps  not  quite  correct.     He 


THE   TROTTING    CHAMPION.  269 

is  quite  large  in  the  outline  and  filling-  up  of  the  hindquarters,  but 
not  so  large  as  some  others.  In  the  triangle  of  the  hindquarter,  rep- 
resented in  the  cut  of  Harabletonian  by  the  lines  H,  F  and  G,  he  is 
respectively  H  16,  F  19,  and  G  27.  From  his  hip  to  his  hock  he  is 
only  38^,  which  is  short,  but  his  thigh  is  24  inches — in  which  his  Mam- 
brino  Chief  anatomy  clearly  appears.  His  quarter  is  very  full ;  and  while 
he  is  wide  on  the  outside,  at  the  stifle,  he  is  also  very  full  between  the 
hind  legs,  and  the  great  muscle  comes  down  low,  as  it  does  in  all  the 
best  ones  of  this  family.  His  foreleg  measure  is  11|-  and  20|-,  from 
which  it  will  appear  that  with  the  exception  of  his  thigh  he  has  not  a 
long  leverage;  and  his  gait  is  just  what  might  naturally  be  expected 
from  so  much  muscle  located  as  his  is,  and  propelling  such  levers  as 
carry  him  at  a  rate  of  speed  which  places  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
trotting  stallions  in  this  country.  He  has  been  described  as  a  rattling 
trotter,  having  an  excess  of  trotting  action.  His  hind  feet  pass  apart 
at  a  good  width;  his  stroke  is  a  raj^id  one,  and  his  advance  is  almost 
terrific;  he  seems  to  have  every  foot  in  the  air  at  the  same  time,  and 
he  comes  like  an  avalanche.  His  body  is  so  compact  and  his  frame- 
work so  close  together,  and  at  the  same  time  so  muscular,  that  he 
moves  in  every  part  at  one  and  the  same  time.  I  should  say  that  in 
him  all  his  elements  and  blood  forces  blended  in  exact  degree  and  in 
excellent  harmony.  His  action,  front  and  rear,  is  exactly  alike,  and  if 
one  is  faulty  the  other  is;  and  the  only  salient  feature  of  his  motion 
that  stands  out  clear  and  above  everything  else  is,  that  it  is  so  abund- 
ant, so  free,  so  ready  and  so  powerful.  I  regard  him  too  short  from 
hip  to  hock.  He  lifts  his  hind  feet  and  raises  his  hocks  too  high. 
Were  he  39^  inches  from  hip  to  hock  he  would  trot  with  more  elas- 
ticity and  less  consumption  of  power.  Further  descriptive  reference 
to  Thorndale  will  be  found  in  the  succeeding  sketch  of  Alraont. 

As  this  stallion  was  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  union  of  the  blood 
of  Hambletonian  and  that  of  Mambrino  Chief,  he  is  deserving  of  a 
close  study,  and  his  history  gives  us  the  opportunity.  On  the  15th 
of  July  1868,  as  a  three-year-old,  he  trotted  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  for  a 
sweepstake  for  three -year-olds — mile  heats,  best  three  in  five.  He 
had  five  competitors,  one  of  which  was  by  American  Clay,  one  by  Iron 
Duke,  one  by  Kentucky  Clay,  and  one  named  Bismarck.  He  won  in 
thi-ee  straight  heats,  distancing  his  three  former  named  opponents  in  the 
second  heat;  time,  2:49^,  2:50,  and  2:55^.  The  day  was  intensely  hot. 
He  was  then  pronounced  the  most  promising  colt  in  the  West.  He 
was  soon  after  ward  purchased  by  Mr.  Thorne,  then  as  now  a  gentleman 


270        Alexander's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

largely  identified  with  horse  breeding  interests  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  I  should  have  mentioned  in  my  chapter  on  Volunteer,  that 
Mr.  Thome  was  with  Mr.  Goldsmith  the  joint  purchaser  of  Volunteer 
and  owned  an  interest  in  him  for  several  years.  He  was  also  owner  of 
Sentinel,  the  brother  of  Volunteer,  that  earned  such  a  brilliant  repu- 
tation in  Kentucky.  He  has  more  recently  been  President  of  the  State 
Agricultural  Society  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  gentlemen  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives.  In  October,  1868, 
Thorndale  was  exhibited  at  the  Narragansett  Park  Fair,  Providence, 
R.  I.,  in  harness,  in  class  of  stallions  three  years  old  and  under  five. 
He  took  the  first  premium  over  ten  others.  He  also  won  the  first 
premium  in  the  stallion  class  for  getting  roadsters,  at  the  New  York 
State  Fairs,  at  Albany,  in  1871  and  1873.  He  was  thenceforward  kept 
for  service  at  Mr.  Thome's  place,  Thorndale,  Duchess  county,  N.  Y., 
and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  weeks  handling  in  the  autumn  of 
1875,  he  was  never  hitched  to  a  sulky  until  sent  to  Mr.  Budd  Doble 
to  be  trained  on  the  17th  of  May,  1876,  after  eight  years  continuous 
stud  service.  He  had  been  kept  regularly,  and  weighed  1,164  lbs.  the 
day  he  left  home.  He  was  in  such  high  condition  that  they  were 
obliged  to  feed  him  light  and  work  his  flesh  off — not  giving  him  above 
four  quarts  of  oats  per  day.  On  the  27th  of  June,  forty-one  days 
after  going  into  Mr.  Doble's  hands,  he  received  a  trial,  and  was  driven 
to  the  quarter  pole  in  35|-,  half  in  1:11,  three-quarters  in  1:49, 
and  the  mile  in  2:24^.  On  July  17th  he  received  his  second  tiial, 
and  a  repeat  as  follows:  Quarter  35,  half  1:10,  three-quarters 
1:47,  mile  2:24;  quarters  respectively,  35,  35,  37  and  37.  Repeat  in 
like  manner  in  35^,  1:11,  1:48  and  2:24;  quarters  respectively,  35|^, 
35^,  37  and  36 — 2:24 — which  was  a  performance  truly  great,  consid- 
ering the  circumstances,  and  was  sufficient  to  satisfy  his  osvner  and 
trainer  that  he  was  a  safe  horse. 

These  were  the  only  trials  he  had  before  leaving  Philadelphia  to 
start  on  the  grand  Eastern  circuit  of  1876.  He  started  at  Buffalo  in 
the  2:32  class  on  the  3d  of  August.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  fill  up 
these  pages  with  the  reports  of  turf  performances,  but  I  can  not  better 
show  the  great  qualities  of  the  horse  and  family  under  consideration^ 
than  by  copying  from  the  Spirit  of  the  2'i/nes,  of  August  12,  1876, 
the  report  of  Thorndale's  first  great  encounter,  as  follows: 

THE   2:32    CLASS. 

This  was  the  first  event  on  the  regular  card  of  the  day,  and  it  proved  to  be 
a,  most  exciting  race,  and  on  its  result  large  sums  of  money  changed  hands. 


RACE   AT   BUFFALO.  271 

Albermarle  had  been  winner  in  this  class  at  Cleveland,  in  three  straight  heats> 
and  was  made  favorite  at  Buttalo,  Wednesday  night,  at  odds  of  3  to  2  against 
the  field ;  but  at  the  track,  before  tlie  start,  Thorudale,  who  had  not  taken  part, 
in  the  Cleveland  race,  was  made  first  choice  in  the  pools.  This  change  may- 
have  been  because  of  the  reports  of  the  speed  of  the  bay  stallion,  or  possibly 
because  the  little  game  for  Albermarle  not  to  win,  which  was  clearly  secrk 
later,  had  leaked  out,  or  been  divulged  for  betting  purposes.  However  this 
may  be,  the  race  was  a  most  remarkable  one,  stamping  Mr.  Thome's  stock- 
horse  as  a  trotter  of  the  highest  order  of  merit,  and  developing  in  Albermarle 
a  horse,  who,  I  think,  will  prove  dangerous  in  any  company ;  and  remarkable 
also,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  for  a  detected  fraud  in  its  beginning,  and  for  the  most, 
barefaced  jockeying  and  foul  driving  in  the  fifth  heat,  by  means  of  which. 
Albermarle  was  cheated  out  of  the  race,  in  all  probability.  There  were  eleven 
starters :  Thorndale,  Albermarle,  Frank,  Adclle  Clark,  Proctor,  Allen,  Gray 
Salem,  Capt.  Smith,  Young  Wilkes,  S.  W.  McD.,  and  Judge. 

First  Heat. — Young  Wilkes  drew  the  pole,  and  Judge  was  outside.  Pools 
sold:  Thorndale,  $60;  Albermarle,  $40;  field,  |30.  On  the  second  scoring 
Young  Wilkes  was  run  into  by  Frank,  and  a  wheel  taken  from  his  sulky. 
This  frightened  him,  and  he  started  on  a  run.  His  driver,  Eugene  Root> 
jumped  upon  his  back,  and  grasped  the  lines,  but  his  hands  were  sweaty^ 
and  he  could  not  hold  them,  and  he  fell  to  the  ground,  rolling  over  like  a  balL 
The  horse  went  on  around  the  course  on  a  keen  run.  The  Assistant-Marshal 
of  the  course,  and  a  mounted  policeman  gave  chase,  but  did  not  capture  him 
until  he  had  got  half  way  down  the  homestretch,  when  they  succeeded  ia 
grabbing  his  bit,  and  bringing  him  to  with  a  round  turn.  He  was  found  toy 
have  cut  himself  slightly,  but  was  able  to  trot  as  soon  as  damages  were  re- 
paired. His  driver  was  unable  to  drive  the  race  out,  and  his  place  was  takea 
by  John  Splan.  When  the  horses  got  away,  it  was  to  a  very  bad  start,  of  whicli 
Frank,  driven  by  Dan  Mace,  had  the  best,  while  the  rear  horse.  Judge,  was  fully 
six  lengths  behind  him.  Frank  readily  took  the  pole  away  from  Young- 
Wilkes,  and  was  two  lengths  ahead  of  him  at  the  quarter,  in  36s.,  Capt.  Smith 
close  to  the  black  stallion.  On  the  backstretch  Frank  lost  none  of  his  lead^ 
but  at  the  half,  in  1 :12,  Thorndale  had  taken  second  position,  and  Albermarle 
was  at  his  wheel.  At  the  three-quarter  pole,  in  1 :48,  Frank  still  was  twa 
lengths  in  the  lead,  but  Albermarle  had  assumed  second  place,  having  cut  down 
the  bay  stallion  on  the  upper  turn,  and  was  closing  fast  on  Frank.  A  short 
break  of  the  latter  on  the  homestretch  aided  the  spotted  gelding  to  accomplish 
the  task  before  him,  and  by  the  time  Frank  had  settled  they  were  neck  and 
neck  close  to  the  wire,  under  which  they  rushed,  making  a  dead  heat  in  2 :23^ ; 
Judge  distanced. 

Second  Heat. — The  speed  and  steadiness  shown  by  Albermarle  in  this  heat 
made  him  a  hot  favorite,  he  selling  for  even  money  against  the  field.  S.  W. 
McD.  was  drawn.  On  the  fourth  attempt  they  got  the  word.  Young  Wilkea 
having  a  little  the  best  of  it,  but  with  a  few  giant  strides  Dolde  sent  Thorndale 
to  the  front,  and  took  the  pole  and  lead.  This  decided  the  heat,  for  the  gallant 
bay  stallion  was  never  headed.  At  the  quarter  pole,  in  36s.,  he  was  three 
lengths  in  advance  of  Albermarle ;  four  lengths  in  advance  at  the  half,  in  1:13, 

18 


272  ALEXANDER'S    ABDALLAII    AND   DESCENDANT?. 

and  five  at  the  three-quarter  pole,  in  1:46%,  the  spotted  gelding  second. 
Coming  lionic,  Allx'rniarle  went  along  very  fast,  and  wlicn  Thorndale  crossed 
the  score  in  2:2i}4,  was  only  two  lengths  beliind.  Proctor  made  a  good  tight 
with  Albermarle  for  second  place, which  continued  until  the  half-mile  pole, but 
there  the  pace  w^as  too  rapid  for  him,  and  he  fell  back. 

Third  Hatf.— There  was  now  a  grand  rush  for  the  hedgerow,  and  all  were 
eager  to  get  on  Thorndale  again.  Rates  Avere  $73  for  tlie  stallion,  $30  for  the 
field.  On  the  second  trial  they  got  away  to  a  good  start,  except  for  Adelle 
Clark,  who  was  quite  in  the  rear.  There  was  no  contest  for  this  heat  worthy 
of  the  name.  Thorndale  at  once  showed  his  heels  to  the  party,  and  at  the 
quarter,  in  35;%s.,  he  was  two  lengths  ahead,  but  here  Allen  had  come  into 
second  place,  by  grace  of  same  running,  while  Frank  was  third.  Tlic  bay 
stallion  retained  his  lead  handily,  while  on  the  backstretch  Albermarle  came 
up  and  went  for  second  place,  but  as  he  reached  Allen  broke  and  fell  back. 
Thorndale  was  three  lengths  ahead  of  Allen,  at  the  half,  in  1  illj^,  and  the  field 
was  far  in  the  rear,  but  Albermarle  was  settled  and  coming  like  a  ghost.  Uet 
was  third  horse  at  the  three-quarter  pole,  in  1 :47,  but  was  too  far  behind 
Thorndale  to  have  a  show  for  the  heat,  and  the  latter  won,  under  a  strong  pull, 
in  2 :2S}4,  by  three  lengths  over  Albermarle.  Allen  finished  second,  but  was 
placed  last  for  running. 

Fourth  Heat.— Betting  was  at  an  end,  but  the  heat  furnished  an  excitement. 
Th'e  judges  had  not  failed  to  notice  that  Albermarle  seemed  able  at  pleasure  to 
outfoot  any  horse  in  the  party.  In  the  first  heat  wiien  Frank  w-as  beating  Thorn- 
dale, he  went  to  the  front  and  made  a  dead  heat  with  Frank,  but  when  Thorndale 
was  in  the  lead  he  never  went  by.  When  the  horses  were  brought  up  for  the 
fourth  heat.  Van  Ness  was  quietly  taken  out  and  Sam  Willet  substituted.  The 
wisdom  and  justice  of  this  change  was  soon  made  manifest.  They  got  off  on 
the  third  trial  to  a  splendid  start,  Thorndale  and  Proctor  in  the  front  rank,  and 
as  the  bay  stallion  went  swinging  around  the  turn  in  the  lead,  the  big  horse 
driven  by  Green  had  taken  second  place.  The  pace  was  fast,  Thorndale  going 
to  the  quarter  pole  in  35s.,  and  there  he  was  two  lengths  ahead.  Proctor  sec- 
ond, with  Albermarle  at  his  wheel.  At  the  half,  in  1  ■.0Q%,  Thorndale  was  still 
tw-o  lengths  ahead,  while  Albermarle  had  got  on  even  terms  with  Proctor. 
Willet  now  urged  his  horse,  and  on  the  upper  turn  sent  him  along  very  fast, 
and  at  the  three-quarter  pole,  in  1 :44,  he  had  reached  Thorndale's  wheel.  Inch 
by  inch  he  gained  on  him,  and  as  he  reached  his  throatlatch  within  a  few 
rods  of  the  wire,  the  stallion  broke,  Doble  caught  him  quickly,  but  the  lieat 
was  lost,  and  Willet  sent  the  spotted  gelding  under  the  wire,  winner  by  two 
lengths,  in  2 :20,  amidst  great  excitement. 

Fifth  Heat. — Now  Albermarle  was  again  the  favorite,  selling  for  $50  to 
$38  for  the  field,  and  speculation  was  brisk.  The  horse  was  carefully  watched 
betw^een  heats,  so  that  he  should  not  be  tampered  with.  The  heat  show^ed  that 
a  certain  party  were  bound  to  beat  Albermarle,  by  fair  means  or  foul.  As  they 
got  the  word,  Thorndale,  who  is  a  very  rapid  scorer,  shot  by  Albermarle, 
took  the  pole,  and  opened  a  gap,  while  Frank  and  Allen  were  sent  aroun'd  the 
turn  on  a  keen  run,  and  the  former  also  got  in  front  of  Albermarle.  Willet 
was  evidently  in  sharp  company,  bound  to  beat  him  if  possible.    At  the  quar- 


THE  WINNER.  273 

ter,  in  3514's.,  where  Thornclale  led  two  lengths,  Frauk  was  second,  running 
considerably  more  than  he  trotted,  and  Albermarle  two  lengths  in  rear  of  Frank, 
with  Allen  running  alongside,  outside  of  him.  Thus  they  entered  the  back- 
stretch,  and,  in  order  to  shake  off  his  uncomfortable  attendants,  Willet  was 
obliged  to  drop  back,  and  pull  Albermarle  to  the  outside.  This  he  did,  and  sent 
him  along  at  a  tremendous  pace ;  Mace  letting  Frank  run  alongside,  apparently 
to  break  him  up.  But  he  had  now  a  clear  road,  and  could  trot  faster  than  the 
others  could  run,  and,  when  Thorndale  passed  the  half,  in  1 :11,  six  lengths 
in  advance,  Albermarle  was  head  and  head  with  Frank,  and  soon  went  by  the 
black  gelding.  The  task  of  catching  the  leader  seemed  hopeless,  but  he  went 
at  it  gallantly,  had  gained  two  lengths  at  the  three-quarter  pole,  in  1 :47,  and 
trotted  so  fast  down  the  homestretch,  that  he  made  a  finish  with  the  stallion 
that  looked  to  many  like  a  dead  heat,  but  those  directly  over  the  wire  could 
see  Thorndale's  nose  in  advance,  and  so  the  judges  decided.     Time,  3:25. 

SDMMARY. 

Purse,  $2,000 ;    2 :  32  class. 

E.  Thome's  b.  s.  Thorndale,  by  Alexander's  Abdallah . .  4  1  1  2      1 

F.  Van  Ness'  sp.  g.  Albermarle 0  2  2  12 

W.  N.  Barnes'  blk.  g.  Frank,  by  Pathfinder  2d 0  0  3  8      5 

A.  E.  Clark's  b.  m.  Adclle  Clark 3  3  5  7      3 

C.  S.  Green's  b.  g.  Proctor G      G      4      4      4 

E.  E.  Rood's  b.  g.  Allen 5      4      0      5      7 

D.  Sheean's  gr.  g.  Gray  Salem G  8  6      G      6 

W.  Van  Valkenburgh's  gr.  g.  Captain  Smith 7  8  7      dr. 

W.  H.  Saunders,  Jr.'s  blk.  s.  Young  Wilkes 10  9  dr. 

S.W.  McDonald's  b.  g.  S.W.  McD.. 9  dr. 


W.  E.  Week's  b.  g.  Judge di 


to-    "  ""& 


IS. 


Time,  2 :  22^—2 :  2214:— 2 :  23)^—2 :  20-2 :  25. 

Thorndale,  the  winner,  is  well  known  to  the  readers  of  The  Spirit,  being 
the  stallion  of  that  name  who  has  for  years  been  at  the  head  of  the  stud  at 
Mr.  Edwin  Thome's  breeding  farm,  Duchess  county,  N.  Y.  He  is  a  bay,  15 
hands  23/2  inches  high,  eleven  years  old,  got  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  dam  by 
Mambrino  Chief,  second  dam  by  Saxe  AVeimar.  Mr.  Thome  bought  him  in 
Kentucky  when  a  three-year-old,  after  he  had  won  a  colt  stake.  Since  that 
time  he  has  constantly  been  engaged  in  the  duties  of  the  stud,  until  the  present 
season,  when  the  Breeders'  Centennial  Meeting  brought  him  from  his  retire- 
ment, and  on  the  13tli  of  May  he  was  put  in  Budd  Doble's  hands  to  bo  trained. 
His  first  race  was  to-day,  and  it  was  a  grand  and  remarkable  one. 


o^ 


Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  was  a  performance  after  eight 
years  of  service  in  the  stud — and  the  first  race  in  which  he  appeared 
after  so  short  a  preparation — but  the  manner  in  wliich  he  finished 
each  heat,  I  may  say,  excited  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  best  judges 
in  the  country  the  beHef  that  Thorndale  had  already  prov«;d  himself 
one  of  the  greatest  trotting  stallions  that  has  appeared  on  our  trot- 
ting turf. 


274  ALEXANDER'S    ABDALLAII    AND    DESCENDANTS. 

On  the  24th  of  August,  at  Poughkeepsie,  Ne-w  York,  he  started 
again  in  a  field  of  seven,  and  won  the  race  in  three  straight  heats  of 
2:23:^,  2:24^,  2:23^.  The  uniformity  with  which  he  put  in  his  heats 
as  to  time,  in  this  the  second  race  of  his  real  career,  shows  the  great 
quality  of  the  horse  he  is.  He  was  already  regarded  as  possessing 
the  character  of  a  veteran  of  many  campaigns.  His  next  appearance 
was  in  the  stallion  class,  at  the  Centennial  meeting  at  Philadelphia, 
September  28,  1876,  when  he  won,  in  three  straight  heats,  in  2:30^, 
2:31^,  2:32^.  The  following  week,  October  3,  he  won  the  stallion 
stake  at  Poughkeepsie,  in  three  straight  heats,  which  seems  to  have 
been  a  custom  with  him;  best  time,  2:27-2-.  This  closed  his  record 
for  1876. 

In  1877  he  made  but  one  race,  and  that  shows  in  still  higher  degree 
the  extraordinary  qualities  for  which  he  is  distinguished.  It  was  the 
expectation  that  Thorndale  should  start  at  the  Breeders'  meeting  at 
Hartford,  in  September,  1877;  but  he  was  prevented  by  an  accident. 
In  passing  through  New  York  his  groom,  having  him  in  charge,  ran 
him  against  a  truck  and  hurt  his  ankle,  so  that  he  favored  it  from 
that  time  until  he  reached  Fleetwood,  two  days  before  his  great  race. 
Hence  he  was  short  of  work;  in  spite  of  all  which  he  would  have 
won  the  race  on  the  third  heat  easily,  had  not  the  drivers  and  the 
judges  determined  that  he  should  not  if  they  could  prevent  it.  This 
race  was  at  Fleetwood  Park,  New  York,  on  the  18th  and  lOth  of 
October  of  that  year,  and  was  for  the  stallion  championship  for  1877, 
and  I  set  out  the  report  of  the  race,  taken  in  full  from  the  New  York 
Spirit  of  the  Times,  of  Oct.  27. 

THE   STAXLION   CnAMPIONSHIP   RACE. 

There  were  nine  original  entries,  of  which  five  started,  as  follows :  J.  H. 
"Welsh's  black  stallion  Thomas  Jefferson,  by  Toronto  Chief,  dam  Gipsy 
Queen,  by  Wagner;  A.  J.  McKimrain's  black  stallion  Blackwood  Jr.,  by 
Blackwood,  dam  Belle  Sheridan,  by  Blood's  Black  Hawk ;  R.  Penistan's  bay 
stallion  Nil  Despcrandmu,  by  Belmont,  dam  Lady  McKiuney;  Edwin 
Thome's  bay  stallion  Thorndale,  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  dam  by  Mambrina 
Chief;  and  Patrick  Day's  bay  stallion  Young  Sentinel,  by  Sentinel,  dam  by 
American  Star. 

First  Heat. — Thorndale  was  favorite  in  the  betting  at  10  to  7,  3  to  1  being 
offered  against  both  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Nil  Desperandum,  4  to  1  against 
Blackwood  Jr.,  and  5  to  1  against  Young  Sentinel.  The  favorite  got  away 
first,  and  at  tlie  quarter  pole,  in  36s.,  had  a  lead  of  three  lengths ;  Thomas 
Jefferson  second,  two  lengths  ahead  of  Blackwood  Jr.,  and  yt)uug  Sentinel, 
who  had  made  a  bad  break,  last.    At   the   half,  in  1:12,  Thorndale  had 


THE  cnAMPiONsniP.  275 

increased  his  lead  to  four  lengths,  while  Nil  Desperandum  had  passed  Black- 
wood Jr.,  and  was  at  the  wheel  of  Jefterson.  On  the  hill.  Nil  Desperandum 
took  second  place,  and  closed  up  rapidly  on  Thorndale,  and  they  had  a  tine 
race  down  the  homestretch ;  but  Nil  broke  within  forty  yards  of  the  score, 
and. was  beaten  out  by  two  lengths,  in  2:2Q%. 

Second  Heat. — Again  the  favorite  got  away  first,  and  at  the  quarter,  in  36s., 
had  opened  a  gap  of  two  lengths,  Nil  Desperandum  second,  but  the  latter 
made  a  bad  break  on  the  second  quarter,  and  Jefferson  took  second  place,  and 
held  it  when  Thorndale  passed  the  half,  in  1 :13,  Nil  Desperandum  now  hav- 
ing fourth  place ;  but  he  had  rallied  from  his  break,  and  was  coming  on 
finely.  By  the  time  the  homestretch  was  reached,  he  had  passed  Blackwood 
Jr.  and  Jefferson,  and  made  a  gallant  effort  to  capture  Thorndale,  but  the 
distance  was  too  great,  and  he  was  beaten  by  one  length,  in  2 :  21^^. 

Third  Heat. — There  seemed  to  be  a  disposition  in  this  heat  to  wear  out 
Thorndale,  and  they  scored  seventeen  times  before  they  got  the  word. 
Young  Sentinel  was  drawn  during  the  scoring.  The  start  was  an  even  one, 
but  this  time  Blackwood  Jr.  shot  ahead,  and  was  leading  at  the  quarter,  in 
36s. ;  but  Thorndale  soon  took  sides  with  him,  and  they  had  a  ueck-and-neck 
contest  to  the  lialf,  in  1:11,  at  which  point  Thorndale  led  the  Tennessee 
horse  by  a  neck.  Nil  Desperandum  two  lengths  behind.  On  the  third  quarter 
both  the  leaders  made  numerous  breaks,  and  Nil  Desperandum  swept  on  by 
them,  and  had  a  lead  of  two  lengths  entering  the  homestretch,  and  won  the 
heat  by  that  distance  from  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  came  up  fast;  time,  2:28. 

Fourth  Heat. — This  time  Tom  Jefferson  had  a  little  the  best  of  the  start, 
but  at  the  quarter  pole,  in  35s.,  Bhickwood  Jr.  and  Thorndale,  the  former  a 
neck  ahead,  were  two  lengths  in  front  of  him.  Just  after  passing  the  quarter, 
Blackwood  Jr.  made  a  bad  break,  and  Thorndale  went  on  so  fast  that  at  the 
half,  in  1 :10i^,  he  had  opened  a  gap  of  five  lengths,  Blackwood  Jr.  still  sec- 
ond, Jefferson  third,  and  Nil  Desperandum  fourth.  His  followers  now  began 
to  close  on  Thorndale,  who  was  leg  weary,  and,  at  the  three-quarter  pole, . 
Blackwood  Jr.  lapped  him,  with  Nil  Desperandum  a  length  behind.  It  was 
all  up  with  Thorndale  for  the  heat,  and  after  a  spirited  contest  down  the 
homestretch,  Blackwood  Jr.  won  by  two  lengths  from  Nil  Desperandum,  who 
led  Jefferson  the  same  distance,  Thorndale  last. 

Fifth  Heat. — It  was  growing  dark  when  the  bell  was  rung  for  this  heat,  but 
was  light  enough  to  trot  had  there  been  no  delay.  Blackwood  Jr.  responded 
promptly,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  was  on  hand  in  reasonably  good  time,  but 
the  two  bay  stallions  were  extremely  dilatory.  The  bell  was  rung  long  and 
repeatedly,  but  neither  Thorndale  nor  Nil  Desperandum  would  show  up. 
Fully  fifteen  minutes  of  valuable  daylight  were  wasted,  and  at  last  the  judges 
announced  that,  if  they  did  not  appear  at  once,  the  two  black  stallions  would 
be  started  without  them,  and  this  availed  to  bring  them  reluctantly  out,  but 
it  had  grown  so  dark  that  the  heat  could  scarcely  be  trotted  under  the  rules. 
The  two  laggards  should,  at  least,  have  been  fined  as  heavilj^  as  the  rules 
allow.  They  were  sent  off,  dark  as  it  was,  and,  at  the  quarter,  in  37s.,  Black- 
wood Jr.  had  a  short  lead  from  Jefferson,  Thorndale  in  the  rear.  On  the 
second  quarter  they  all  came  in  a  bunch,  and  their  relative  positions  could  not 


276       Alexander's  abdallaii  and  descendants. 

be  clistinguisliecl  at  the  Imlf,  in  1 :18.  From  this  point  Thorndale  ran  into 
the  lead,  but,  when  he  was  puUed  to  a  trot  on  the  homestretch,  the  otliers 
causrht  him,  and  Bhickwood  Jr.  won  the  heat  by  a  length  from  Nil  Despcran- 
dum,  in  3:3132-    The  race  was  then  postponed. 

FOURTH    DAY. 

Friday,  Oct.  19.— The  weather  was  fine  in  the  afternoon,  but  the  attend 
ance  very  light.     The  first  business  was  to  finish  the  stallion  race.     Only 
Thorndale,  Nil  Desperaudum  and  Blackwood  Jr.  remained  in. 

Sixth  Heat. — Very  little  betting,  the  book-makers  being  not  liberal  with 
their  ofi'ers.  Blackwood  Jr.  took  the  lead,  and  held  it  at  the  quarter  pole,  in 
36^8.,  Thorndale  second,  two  lengths  in  front  of  Nil  Desperandum.  Thorn- 
dale now  closed  up  somewhat,  but  could  not  catch  the  black,  and  Turner, 
therefore,  brought  up  Nil  Desperandum  to  accomplish  the  job,  but,  at  the 
half,  in  1 :11,  Blackwood  Jr.  still  led  two  lengths,  Thorndale  at  the  wheel  of 
Nil  Desperandum.  On  the  third  quarter  the  latter  closed  up  on  the  leader 
and  lapped  him  at  the  three-quarter  pole,  where  McKimmin  claims  that 
Turner  fouled  him,  and  took  several  spokes  from  his  sulky  wheel.  At  any 
rate.  Nil  Desperandum  took  the  inside  down  the  homestretch,  and  won  by 
half  a  length,  in2:27M- 

(When  the  horses  next  came  out.  Nil  Desperandum  took  the  lead  from  the 
word,  but,  before  reaching  the  quarter,  Blackwood  Jr.  had  taken  sides  with 
him,  while  Thorndale  was  trailing.  Turner  now  crowded  Blackwood  Jr.  to 
the  outside  of  the  track,  leaving  the  pole  path  clear  for  Thorndale,  who  took 
advantage  of  it,  and  went  to  the  front,  leading  by  two  lengths  at  the  quarter. 
A  little  later.  Nil  Desperandum  was,  apparently  Avith  intention,  crossed  in 
front  of  Blackwood  Jr.,  and  the  latter  obliged  to  pull  up.  The  result  of  these 
manoeuvres  was,  that  Thorndale  came  in  first  by  six  lengths,  in  2 :  261-^,  and 
Desperandum  .second,  but  the  judges  declared  it  "no  heat."  The  trick  was 
so  transparent  that  expulsion  would  scarcely  have  been  too  severe  a  penalty.) 

Seventh  Ileat.— After  the  scoring  began,  Turner  was  unseated,  and  John 
Murphy  put  up  behind  Nil  Desperaudum.  The  change  was  not  justified 
by  the  result,  though  it  was  by  Turner's  conduct  in  the  former  heat.  Black- 
wood Jr.  broke  at  the  first  turn,  and  Tliorndale  went  to  the  front,  and,  at  the 
quarter,  in  35s.,  had  a  lead  of  two  leugtlis.  This  gap  he  increased  to  four  or 
five  lengths,  at  the  half,  in  1 :10,  and  won  as  he  pleased  by  a  dozen  lengths,  in 
2 :  2Gi^.  Nil  Desperandum  was  a  bad  third,  and  was  stopped  at  the  wire, 
much  distressed. 

SUMMARY. 

Fleetwood  Park,  Oct.  18  and  19.— Purse  $5,000,  stallion  championship  of 
1877  and  a  silver  cup. 

E.  Thome's  b.  s.  Thorndale,  by  Alexander's  Abdallah  1 
R.  Penistan's  b.  s.  Nil  Desperandum,  by  Belmont.  ...  2 
A.  J.  McKimmin's  blk.  s.  Blackwood  Jr.,  by  Black- 
wood   4 

J.  IT.  Welsh's  blk.  s.  Thomas  Jeflerson 3 

P.  Day's  b.  s.  Young  Sentinel 5 

Time,  2 : 2(i%—2 :  27^—2 :  28—2 :  293^—2 :  313^—2 :  27^—0 :  00-3 :  26%. 


1 

4    4 

3 

3    0 

1 

2 

1     2 

2 

1    0 

3 

4 

3     1 

1 

2    0 

2 

3 

3    3 

4 

r.o. 

5 

dr. 

THE   POOL   SELLERS.  277 

A  little  bit  of  cotemporaneous  history  will  cast  some  light  on  the 
above  report.  Mr.  Thorne  having  taken  an  active  part  in  securing 
the  passage  by  the  legislature  of  New  York,  of  the  law  prohibiting 
pool  selling,  he  thereby  incurred  the  hostility  of  all  that  fraternity 
for  himself  and  his  horse,  and  there  was  a  combined  effort  to  defeat 
the  horse — a  combination  that  greatly  influenced  the  reports  of  the 
race  and  the  incidents  attending  the  same. 

It  is  stated  in  the  foregoing  report  that  there  was  a  combination  to 
score  Thorndale  to  death,  and  that  they  scored  seventeen  times  before 
getting  the  word  for  the  third  heat.  The  true  number  scored  was 
twenty-six  times  before  the  word  was  given. 

It  is  also  perfectly  clear  that  Thorndale  won  the  false  heat  by  six 
lengths,  in  3:26^,  notwithstanding  which  the  judges  declared  it  no 
heat,  in  consequence  of  the  misconduct  of  the  driver  of  Nil  Desperan- 
dum;  that  Doble  was  not  in  the  wrong,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  not  even  reprimanded  or  censured  for  dropping  into  the  open 
gap,  which  was  his  duty  and  his  right.  As  it  stands,  Thorndale  has  a 
record  of  2:23^,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  while  it  is  also 
clear  that  he  is  entitled  to  the  record  of  another  in  2:26^,  in  the  face 
of  a  combination  to  secure  his  defeat  of  a  most  formidable  character. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  time  made  at  the  Centennial  was  not 
equal  to  2:30.  It  is  well  known,  perhaps,  to  many  that  owing  to  bad 
weather  and  other  causes,  fast  time  was  not  made  in  any  of  the  races 
at  the  Centennial  meeting.  There  were  originally  thirty-five  entries 
for  this  race,  but  when  the  day  came  for  the  trial  only  two  horses, 
Nil  Desperandum  and  Robert  Fulton,  appeared  against  Thorndale,  and 
the  drivers  or  managers  of  these  refused  to  start  unless  Mr.  Doble 
would  agree  not  to  distance  them — hence  the  slow  time. 

His  racing  career  is  not  probably  over  yet.  He  is  now  understood 
to  be  ready  to  carry  the  flag  of  his  family  and  contend  for  supremiicy 
in  the  stallion  trot  for  1878. 

When  he  shall  have  closed  his  career  on  the  turf  he  will  return  to 
the  stud,  carrying  laurels  that  will  do  honor  alike  to  his  owner  and  to 
the  lines  of  blood  which  he  represents,  and  when  the  three  lines  of 
Duroe,  Bellfounder  and  Messenger  shall  produce  other  as  good  or 
better  and  greater  trotting  stallions,  it  will  be  a  further  proof  of  the 
very  high  estimate  I  have  in  these  pages  placed  on  that  grand  com- 
bination. 

His  colts  are  mostly  too  young  to  enter  the  lists  for  fast  work,  but 
from  the  company  in  which  he  is  found  at  present  he  will  be  likely  to 


278       Alexander's  abdallaii  and  descendants. 

be  called  upon  to  sustain  the  reputation  of  a  very  fast  fatnily  on  more 
than  one  occasion.  May  it  not  be  he  that  shall  lower  the  flag  of  their 
renown  or  dim  the  lustre  of  a  fame  that  already  encircles  the  globe. 

HIS     PRODUCE. 

My  opportunity  for  inspecting  his  produce  has  been  confined  mainly 
to  those  owned  by  Mr.  Thorne.  Several  of  them,  three  and  four  years 
old,  showed  much  in  favor  of  the  breeding  qualities  of  their  sire;  and 
his  lot  of  weanlings,  about  fifteen  in  number,  seen  in  January,  18  TG, 
were  the  best  lot  for  the  same  number  that  I  have  ever  seen  at  the 
same  season  anywhere.  They  were  alilce  a  credit  to  the  breeder,  their 
keeper,  and  their  parentage. 

The  following  statements  furnished  by  a  correspondent  may  be  re- 
•ceived  regarding  the  colts  of  Thorndale: 

Wild  Oats  is  the  only  one  of  his  foak  that  I  have  any  knowledge  of 
having  been  trained  by  a  professional  trainer.  He  has  a  record  of 
^:41.  Budd  Doble  had  him  a  short  time  during  the  autumn  of  1876, 
and  I  have  understood  he  gave  him  a  trial  in  2:32. 

Marksman,  6  years  old,  out  of  Lady  Patriot,  won  the  Country 
■Gentleman's  Breeders  stake  for  3-year-olds  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Sep- 
tember 7th,  1875.      Lady  Patriot  was  dam  of  Volunteer. 

On  September  24th,  he  trotted  in  the  4-year-old-and-under  class  at 
Poughkeepsie  and  won  second  money,  finishing  well  up  in  three  heats, 
the  last  beincr  trotted  in  2:39.  Four  started,  two  were  distanced. 
He  has  been  kept  in  the  stud  since.  He  is  being  driven  daily,  although 
in  the  stud  in  Thorndale's  place.  He  shows  great  bursts  of  speed  at 
times,  and  will  be  a  creditable  representative  of  his  distinguished 
parentage.  It  is  proposed  to  develop  and  trot  him  next  season.  His 
full  brother  Patriot  is  improving  rapidly  in  his  speed,  and  will  be  no 
diso-race  to  his  family. 

Thorndale  Jr.  has  pulled  a  wagon  on  a  half  mile  track  in  2:40,  and 
barrins:  accidents  will  be  able  to  show  2:30  or  better  to  harness  before 
tjie  close  of  the  season.  But  of  all  the  get  of  Thorndale,  Daisydale 
is  second  to  none.  She  has  grown  into  a  magnificently  developed 
animal,  IG^  hands  high,  with  a  head  and  neck  as  fine  as  a  race-horse, 
shoulders  of  great  depth,  lung  capacity  unequaled,  back  short  and 
-well  muscled,  immense  quarters  and  stifles,  gooil  strong  feet  set  on 
legs  as  flat  and  clean  as  a  thorcmghbred's.  She  has  a  long,  clean, 
sweeping  gait,  gathers  quick,  is  steady  as  ©lock  work,  likes  com^mny, 
TCquires  no  boots  or  weights,  and  is  as  level    headed  as   they  make 


ALMONT.  279 

them.  She  has  been  timed  a,  full  mile  in  fast  time,  and  she  is  improv- 
ing. Pioneer,  four  years  old,  out  of  the  dam  of  Enigma,  is  gifted 
with  a  great  deal  of  speed,  ami  will  make  his  mark.  So  also  will 
Buccaneer,  out  of  Enigma  (4  years),  and  also  will  Briareus,  a  double  in- 
bred Hambletonian  and  Mambrino.  Havoc,  Leiladale,  Dorabella, 
Clay  dale,  and  a  host  of  others,  give  every  indication  of  being  trotters. 
Olendora,  Everdale  and  Botheration  are  all  speedy  and  can  show  a 
forty  gait,  and  with  handling  will  trot  low  in  the  thirties  this  season. 

Hero,  oi  Thorndale,  whose  dam  was  Heroine  (full  sister  to  Volun- 
teer and  Sentinel),  second  dam  Lady  Patriot,  is  in  Kentucky,  doing 
service  as  a  stallion.     He  was  owned  by  the  late  F.  P.  Kinkead. 

Thorndale  Jr.  and  Daisydale  are  brother  and  sister.  Dam  Daisy, 
by  Burr's  Washington,  son  of  Burr's  Napoleon,  by  Young  Mam- 
brino; second  dain  by  Abdallah;    third  dam  by  Engineer. 

The  above  colts  of  Thorndale  will  be  watched  with  interest  by  all 
lovers  of  good  horses. 

ALiSrONT. 

We  now  reach  for  consideration  one  of  the  most  remarkable  trot- 
ting sires  this  country  has  yet  produced — a  princely  son  of  a  royal  sire, 
and  worthy  of  a  place  in  a  household  of  kings  and  queens.  Almont 
was  bred  at  "Woodburn  Farm,"  the  home  of  Alexander's  Abdallah, 
either  by  Mr.  Alexander  or  Mr.  D.  Swigert- — at  that  time  the  superin- 
tendent— and  was  foaled  in  18G4,  and  sold  by  Mr.  Swigert,  when  four 
years  old,  to  Col.  Richard  West,  of  Scott  county,  Kentucky.  His  dam 
was  by  Mambrino  Chief;  2d  dam  by  Pilot  Jr.;  and  3d  dam,  a  very 
highly  bred  mare  owned  by  Wm.  H.  Pope,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky. 
For  the  latter  mare  no  pedigree  was  given,  but  she  was  one  of  those 
very  highly  bred  animals  whose  blood  being  unknown  was  often 
claimed  for  thoroughbred — and  while,  perhaps,  not  entitled  to  that 
rank,  was  nevertheless  one  of  the  best  possible  selections  on  which  to 
start  a  structure  composed  of  the  best  of  trotting  bloods,  and  to 
•culminate  in  a  trotting  sire  of  rare  distinction  and  enduring  fame. 
The  next  link  in  the  chain  is  that  of  Pilot  Jr.,  and  he  by  the  Canadian 
pacer  Pilot,  from  a  mare  having  much  the  same  claims  to  high  blood 
as  the  one  above  referred  to.  This  Pilot  Jr.  cross,  which  will  receive 
further  attention  during  the  progress  of  these  chapters,  was  one  that 
had  the  happy  and  very  fertile  faculty  of  fusing  and  harmonizing  well 
and  readily  with  any  trotting  or  even  racing  blood,  and  giving  the 
product  a  ready  tendency  to  the  trotting  gait,  and  at  the  same  time 


280       Alexander's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

interposing  no  real  impediments  in  the  way  of  cross-bred  or  conflicting^ 
anatomy.  It  lacked  fixedness  and  obstinacy,  and  serv^ed  as  a  sort  of 
amalgam  to  render  opposite  and  unyielding  fields  pliant  and  fruitful, 
in  union  with  more  positive  and  cuutroUing  elements.  It  was  an 
element  that  seemed  to  have  affinities  for  every  other,  and  all  tending 
in  a  direction  to  promote  ready  trotting  action,  no  matter  what  the 
combination.  It  possessed  qualities  that  are  difficult  to  comprehend. 
While  the  trotting  quality  came  from  an  inferior  and  coarsely  bred 
animal,  it  had,  nevertheless,  the  faculty  of  engrafting  a  trotting  action, 
to  a  very  great  degree,  on  the  produce  of  other  bloods  far  higher  in 
quality.  It  even  succeeded  with  thoroughbred  crosses  when  the 
Hambletonian  blood  failed.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  grandam  of  Crit- 
tenden raised  two  daughters,  one  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  that  has 
never  been  a  success,  and  another  by  Pilot  Jr.,  that  breeds  a  colt  of" 
trotting  action  approaching  the  highest  type — the  latter  is  the  dam  of 
Crittenden.  This  is  the  only  aspect  or  manifestation  of  the  Pilot 
blood  that  is  clearly  visible  in  Almont,  as  we  shall  see  further  along. 
The  next  link  in  his  pedigree  brings  us  to  his  own  dam  by  Mambrino 
Chief.  Here  we  have  a  cross  of  royal  trotting  blood  in  the  foreground, 
and  one  that  was,  like  the  Pilot  blood,  also  noted  for  its  readiness  to 
amalgamate  advantageously  with  any  and  all  other  elements,  whether 
of  the  trotter  or  the  thoroug^hbred.  It  was  a  blood  that  reached  back 
in  straight  and  short  lines  to  old  Messenger,  by  that  process  of  re- 
uniting, after  a  certain  interval,  two  or  more  currents  of  the  same 
blood,  which,  in  breeding,  is  often  found  to  secure  an  intensified  mani- 
festation of  the  leading  or  controlling  qualities  of  the  particular  blood* 
This  is  nowhere  better  illustrated  than  in  the  case  of  the  various 
families  of  trotters  bred  or  descended  from  the  Messenger  family. 
Although  it  is  true  that  now  and  then  an  able  and  intelligent  critic  of 
rare  acc(Mnplishnients,  such  as  the  fluent  and  versatile  editor  of  the 
/Sjyortsman,  is  found  ready  to  detract  from  the  groat  merits  of  the 
blood  of  Messenger  as  a  trotting  constituent,  the  concurrent  testimony 
of  so  many  others,  and  such  vast  numbers  of  great  performances  on 
the  trotting  turf,  do  attest  the  fact  that  the  great  trotting  blood  of  the 
world  is  that  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  great  horse, 
imported  Messenger.  Furthermore,  we  find  that  the  trotting  tenden- 
cies of  this  blood  are  best  seen  when  separate  currents,  after  certain 
intervals,  from  a  common  origin,  are  again  reunited.  The  list  of 
American  trotters  abounds  with  illustrations  of  this  proposition.  Mam- 
brino Chief  was  himself  one — greater  as  a  trotter  and  a  sire  than  any 


W'' 


> 
r 

0 
H 


^ 


ALMONT.  281 

of  his  ancestors  of  either  branch;  Hainbletonian  was  another,  and  the 
g-reatuess  of  Alexander's  Abdallah  renders  very  probable  all  the 
aller)'ed  Mambrino  crosses  in  the  unauthenticated  pedigree  of  Katy 
Darlino-.  Besides  these,  Blackwood,  Gov.  Sprague — two  of  the  fastest 
stallions — and  Mambrino  Kate — the  fastest  of  the  get  of  Mambrino 
Patchen — afford  ready  illustrations.  And  to  those  who  dispute  the 
inherited  trotting  tendencies  of  the  Messenger  blood,  I  may  here  put 
the  question:  In  what  other  family  do  you  'find  the  above  marked 
peculiarity?  The  blood  of  Dioraed  prevails  in  this  country  more 
extensively,  perhaps,  than  that  of  Messenger.  It  is  very  often  re- 
united after  intervals  of  separation,  but  it  nowhere  '  displays  such  an 
accumulative  inclination  toward  the  trotting-  gait.  Instances  of  the 
same  peculiarity  are  found  in  the  Bellfounder  blood;  and  this  is 
another  proof  that  it  is  kindred  to  that  of  Messenger.  The  Mam- 
brino Chief  mare  also  afforded  a  nearly  related  channel  in  which  the 
blood  of  Hambletonian  found  a  congeniality  that  would  amount  to 
more  than  a  mere  affinity.  It  was  a  positive  and  very  near  con- 
sanguinity. While  in  Almont  the  Mambrino  Chief  element  is  less 
conspicuous  than  that  of  Hambletonian,  it  has  served  a  very  important 
end  in  giving  solidity  and  great  positiveness  and  strength  to  the 
make-up  of  the  entire  animal,  and  especially  in  those  parts  where  the 
Messenger  blood  tends  to  strong  and  positive  development. 

Almont  is  a  deep  or  solid  bay  horse,  standing  15  hands  2|-  inches  on 
his  withers,  and  one  inch  higher  on  the  rump,  and  weighs,  in  ordinary 
condition,  1,175  lbs.  His  points  are  black,  and  the  color  extends  to 
and  includes  the  knees  and  hocks;  he  has  the  Mambrino  Chief  badge 
of  a  grey  right  hind  leg  from  the  foot  to  the  hock,  although  not  yet 
very  plain,  but  increasing  with  age.  His  mane  is  medium,  and  his 
tail  rather  light.  In  his  measurement  and  in  his  proportions  he  is 
almost  exactly  like  Thorndale — his  head  is  in  length,  26 ;  his  neck  the 
same,  35;  his  hindquarter  is  38^  from  hip  to  hock  and  24^  in  length 
of  thigh — slightly  longer;  and  in  his  foreleg  his  relative  proportion 
is  just  enough  different  to  make  their  gaits  and  that  of  all  the  Almonts 
clearly  different — 11  and  31;  and  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  this 
particular  the  variation  of  one-half  inch  makes  a  vast  difference  in  the 
gait  of  a  horse.  This  one-half  inch  would  make  Smuggler  a  steady 
trotter,  and  the  truest  and  fastest  stallion  in  tlie  world;  but  of  him 
when  we  get  there.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Almont  is  almost  precisely 
the  same  in  his  foreleg  measurement  as  Volunteer,  and  the  old-time 
objection  that  I  heard  against  the  Almonts  before  I  ever  saw  one  of 


282       Alexander's  abdallaii  and  descendants. 

them  was,  that  they  pointed  or  dug  too  much  with  their  forefeet.  It 
is  true  that,  like  the  Volunteers,  they  trot  best  with  a  light  weight; 
but,  as  I  showed  in  the  case  of  that  family,  this  clamor  about  not 
bending  the  knees  is  false  in  theory  and  needless  in  practice.  Both 
famihes  bend  their  knees  enouorh  to  a:et  to  the  end  of  the  race  in  fast 
time.  But  the  difference  in  the  matter  of  elevation  of  the  forefeet, 
between  Thorndale  and  the  Almonts,  is  very  perceptible;  while 
Almont  might,  without  detriment,  raise  them  a  little  more,  Thorndale 
shows  his  well  up  and  out  in  front  in  vigorous  style.  In  the  neck 
Almont  appears  slightly  heavier  than  the  Hambletonian  model — his 
shoulder  is  heavy  and  very  powerful,  and  extends  well  forward;  his 
middle-piece  is  excellent,  and,  with  his  back  and  loin  short  and  pow- 
erful, gives  him  the  appearance  of  great  compactness  and  power;  but, 
like  all  of  the  best  Hambletonians,  the  excellence  of  the  animal 
appears  to  the  greatest  advantage  in  the  hindquarter.  In  the  trian- 
gular lines  H,  F,  G,  he  is  respectively  17,  20,  and  27;  and  is,  from  hip 
to  hip  over  the  loin,  26  inches — the  same  as  Thorndale.  His  quarters 
are  exceedingly  muscular,  and  he  carries  it  both  on  the  outside  and 
on  the  inside — and  in  this  connection  there  is  a  family  peculiarity 
pertaining  to  the  Hambletonians  worthy  of  notice.  Many  of  our 
powerful  trotters,  especially  those  earning  from  Messenger,  Hamble- 
tonian or  Mambrino  Chief  blood,  on  Diomed  or  Archy  crosses,  show 
a  great  and  very  powerful  muscular  development  of  the  outer  quarters, 
and  low  down  on  the  thio-h  or  oraskin.  Manv  of  them  widen  out  at  a 
range  with  the  stifle;  but  the  Hambletonian  family  are  marked  from 
all  others  in  the  excessive  development  of  the  inside  of  the  quarters 
and  the  back  part  of  the  great  muscle  of  the  quarters — I  describe 
Hambletonian  in  that  part  as  "  simply  immense." 

The  Abdallah  family  were  not  deficient  on  the  inside  of  the  quarter, 
while  they  were  so  flat  and  straight  on  the  outside  as  to  be  always  called 
'*  cat-hammed."  Messenger  Duroc  has  much  of  this  appearance,  but 
^hows  his  true  Hambletonian  massivcness  on  the  inner  side  of  the 
quarter.  When  we  come  to  study  closely  the  muscular  organization 
of  the  horse,  and  the  office  performed  by  each  muscle,  v^^e  shall  find 
that  this  vast  accumulation — penetrated  by  an  innumerable  system  of 
ligaments,  all  centering  in  the  great  back  sinew  that  extends  to  the 
hock  and  the  main  tandons  that  lift  and  propel  the  hind  leg — is  by  no 
means  superfluous.  Its  importance  is  suggested  by  the  speed  and 
extraordinary  power  of  the  family  which  possesses  the  coTiformation 
in  such  high  degroee.     Whether  this  peculiarity  comes  from  the  Bell- 


A   FAMILY   OF   MUSCLE.  283 

.founder  element,  or  pertains  also  to  the  Messenger'  family,  is  not  clear 
to  my  inind,  but  that  it  is  a  characteristic  of  the  Hambletonian  family 
appears  to  my  entire  satisfaction;  and  I  have  thought  that  this  pecu- 
liar attainment  of  this  family  had  some  sort  of  connection  with  that 
singular  and  difficult-to-comprehend  location  of  muscle  and  power  in 
this  family,  which  appears  most  clearly  when  the  Bellfounder  blood  is 
doubled,  as  in  the  produce  of  Hambletonian  sires  on  mares  by  Sayer's 
Harry  Clay — as  noticed  in  my  last  chapter. 

This  family,  as  I  there  showed,  were  of  the  long  measurement  from 
hip  to  hock,  and  were  seeming  or  apparent  dwellers — and  Harry  Clay 
was  himself  a  noted  quitter — while  the  produce  of  those  mares  are  so 
far  reinforced  by  the  additional  and  direct  Bellfounder  element, 
through  the  Hambletonians,  that  fast  time  is  not  more  their  character- 
istic than  endurance  in  the  race.  Gazelle,  Bodine,  St.  Julien  and 
Prospero  are  all  of  this  class,  and  have  been  found  fast,  and,  so  far  as 
tried  thus  far,  not  wanting  in  stamina  for  the  number  of  heats  neces- 
sary to  win  a  race.  I  know  of  no  family  that  seems  to  have  more  of 
the  strength  of  quarter  in  the  inside  and  back  part,  which  I  have  here 
referred  to,  than  appears  in  Almont  and  in  his  produce  with  great  uni- 
formity. The  three  great  families  from  which  he  is  immediately  de- 
scended are  so  completely  blended,  and  unite  in  such  perfect  harmony, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  indicate  readily  the  different  phases  and  manifesta- 
tions of  each.  His  appearance  is  strikingly  Hambletonian,  and  with 
all  that,  he  is  a  plain,  good-looking  horse — neither  coarse  in  any  part, 
nor  strikingly  fine  in  any  particular.  He  does  not  seem  like  a  large 
horse,  and,  at  a  little  distance,  has  the  appearance  of  a  rather  small 
one,  but  when  you  get  close  to  him  you  discover  that  he  is  exceed- 
ingly stout  and  compact.  His  limbs,  while  flat  and  blood-like,  are 
large  and  powerful;  his  knee  is  13f  inches  around;  his  hock  17-|- 
inches;  and  he  is  15:^  inches  around  the  large  tendon,  at  the  smallest 
place  above  the  hock.  He  stands  so  low  that  he  does  not  seem  large, 
but  his  weight  of  1,175  pounds  tells  how  compactly  and  powerfully  he 
is  built.  While  speaking  of  his  hocks  and  limbs  I  can  not  omit  notice 
of  the  pre-eminent  quality  of  both.  I  think  we  rarely  pay  sufficient 
attention  to  this  matter  of  texture  and  quality  of  leg.  I  have  recently 
found  fault  with  one  stallion — sparingly,  as  I  thought — and  it  seems 
others,  also — as  I  received  a  letter  from  a  gentleman,  well  known  all 
over  the  Union  as  a  breeder,  who  reminded  me  that  I  omitted  to  notice 
his  "  gummy  "  legs.  Almont's  are  not  of  that  kind,  and  the  most 
Bevere  work  brings  up  no  traces  of  inflammation  or  swelling.     They 


384       Alexander's  abd;^llah  and  descendants. 

have  the  quality  of  ahsorl)i»g-  all  their  synovial  secretions,  and  their 
cellular  tissue  is  of  the  genuine  Abdallah  sort — they  endure  friction. 
This  quality  enables  him  to  impart  to  his  ofrs])ring  a  degree  of  health 
and  soundness  in  limbs  and  hocks,  that  goes  far  to  enhance  the  great 
value  of  the  family.  We  have  learned  too  many  lessons,  in  respect  to 
this  question  of  unsoundness,  in  this  country,  to  pass  lightly  over 
these  points,  even  though  some  of  the  penholders,  who  write  to  please 
owners  rather  than  truthfully  instruct  the  people,  may  seem  querulous 
about  the  matter.  In  the  State  of  Kentucky  the  peo])le  have  been 
educated  on  this  point,  and  have  paid  for  their  schooling.  They  will 
tell  you,  however,  that  the  Almonts  are  sound  in  foot,  hock  and  limb. 
What  I  have  said  about  the  soundness  of  feet,  hocks  and  limbs  of 
Almont,  applies  equally  to  Thorndale. 

In  temper  Almont  is  very  gentle,  and  perfectly  kind  when  quiet; 
but,  when  in  motion,  he  seems  only  impatient  of  the  restraint  of  the 
rein.  He  wants  to  go  with  great  vehemence,  and  seems  to  delight 
most  in  the  fastest  gait  he  can  display. 

The  gait  of  Almont,  and  all  his  family,  amounts  to  a  type  by  which 
they  are  as  much  distinguished  as  any  other  feature.  He  throws  his 
feet  well  out  in  front,  but  does  not  lift  them  high,  and  does  not  dis- 
play any  excess  of  knee  action;  but  their  reach  is  so  even  and  steady, 
and  so  much  lacking  in  the  high-lifting  displays  that  are  sometimes 
seen,  as  tq  call  for  the  observation  from  many  that  he  trots  unequally  be- 
fore and  behind;  for,  in  the  matter  of  wide-spreading  stifle,  powerfully- 
acting  hocks  and  grand  stride,  coupled  with  a  propelling  power  that 
is  almost  terrific,  he  is  a  sight  worth  beholding  when  he  is  on  the  track 
going  at  a  rate  of  near  2 :  20.  His  stroke  is  powerful  and  far-sending, 
and  displays  uncommon  muscular  vigor.  His  quarters  and  thigh  are 
so  muscular,  and  the  latter  so  long  for  so  short  a  limbed  horse,  that 
his  action  behind  is  at  once  vigorous  and  striking  for  the  immense 
leverage  he  displays,  and  the  short  and  powerful  conformation  that  ena- 
bles him  to  use  it  at  such  great  advantage.  Instead  of  the  long 
limb  and  thigh  that  prevails  in  the  early  Clay  families,  he  has  a 
long  thigh — 24^  inches — and  a  reach  from  hip  to  hock  only  38^  inches, 
which  is  half  an  inch  shorter  than  the  Abdallah  average;  and  the 
result  is,  that  his  hind  leg  moves  with  less  of  the  elastic,  springy  and 
unbending  motion,  but  with  a  display  of  vigor  in  the  stifle  and  thigh 
that  shows  in  the  excess  his  immense  and  powerful  muscular  organi- 
zation. 

The  trotting  gait  of  Almont  is  rather  wide  open  behind.    Standing  in 


NATURAL    TllOTTKUS.  285 

front  or  behind  him  when  in  motion,  you  clearly  see  the  lines  occupied 
hj  the  front  feet  between,  and  by  the  hind  feet  on  the  outside,  with 
great  evenness  and  regularity.  The  point  at  which  they  widen  or 
spread  seems  to  be  at  the  stifle,  and  he  keeps  his  hind  legs  in  perpen- 
-dicular  line,  rather  than  in  the  sprawling  manner  exhibited  by  some 
•that  trot  with  no  more  width  behind.  The  peculiar  gait  of  the  front 
legs  I  have  described  is  a  Hambletonian  type,  when  the  same  propor- 
tions occur,  as  in  the  Volunteers;  but  the  vigorous  display  of  power 
and  action  b'"' 'nd,  is  derived  evidently  from  his  cross-breeding  into 
•the  Pilot  and  Mambrino  Chief  elements — a  kind  of  breedinor  that  can 
not  always  be  accomplished  with  such  good  results.  His  hindquarter 
leverage  is  faulty  in  the  same  respect  as  Thorndale's,  and  in  greater 
■degree,  as  he  lias  a  longer  thigh.  Were  his  measurement  from  hip  to 
hock  39^  or  40  inches,  he  would  show  more  elasticity  of  gait — more 
of  the  real  Abdallah  propelling  power — and  not  lift  his  hocks  so  high. 
-He  would  not  be  so  showy  a  field  trotter,  but,  to  my  mind,  would  dis- 
play a  gait  more  likely  to  be  relied  upon  for  long-continued  wear  and 
tear.  As  a  sire,  however,  it  must  be  conceded  that  his  surplus  of 
'trotting  action  is  less  objectionable  than  as  a  trotter  for  turf  purposes 
— he  has  the  more  of  this  quality  to  impart  to  the  offspring  of  mares 
that  are  lacking  in  this  respect. 

The  Almonts  are  showy  trotters,  and  seem  always  ready  for  a  dis- 
play.    They  are  so  constructed  that  they  can  trot  more  easily  than  do 
•anything  else;  hence  they  are  natural  trotters;  and  this  is  the  remark- 
able characteristic  of  the  family — that  the  produce  of  Almont  seem ' 
to  trot  with  a  total  disregard  to  the  qualities  or  characteristics  of  the 

■  mares  from  which  they  are  bred.  The  Hambletonian  horse  is  not,  as 
■a  general  rule,  very  successful  in  engrafting  a  ready  and  free  trotting 
gait  on  the  produce  of  thoroughbred  or  racing  mares,  but  Almont  does 
it  to  a  degree  hardly  surpassed,  and  perhaps  not  equaled,  by  any  Pilot 

■^r  Mambrino  Chief  stallion  we  have  ever  produced. 

An  opinion  was  at  one  time  expressed  by  myself,  and,  I  believe, 
•entertained  by  his  owner,  that  Almont  did  not  so  readily  succeed  with 
his  own  kith  and  kin  of  the  Hambletonian  blood.  It  is  now  clear  that 
"this  was  an  error,  and  a  recent  thorough  examination  satisfies  me  that 
there  is  no  foundation  for  it.  I  shall  look  to  mares  by  the  highly  bred 
sons  of  Hambletonian  as  those  with  which  Almont  will  achieve  his 
greatest  fame.     His  success  with  thoroughbreds  and  all  other  classes 

■  of  mares  can  not  well  be  accounted  for  without  our  attention  being 
•directed  to  the  three  great  blood  elements  which   are  so  successfully 

blended  in  his  own  composition. 


286        Alexander's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

Although  Almont  is  a  young  horse,  and  only  entered  the  stud  nine 
years  ago,  he  probably  lias  a  greater  number  of  colts  that  are  pro- 
nounced trotters  than  any  otherstallion  this  country  has  ever  produced, 
with  a  stud  service  of  twice  that  period.  We  often  hear  it  claimed  of 
this  or  that  stallion,  that  his  colts  are  all  trotters — it  is  a  distinction  that 
can  hardly  be  denied  to  Almont,  if  there  ever  was  any  such  stallion. 
Another  and  a  marked  peculiarity  is  that,  in  form  and  appearance,  all 
his  produce  have  the  form  and  physical  conformation  of  young  Ham- 
bletonians.  I  recently  observed  in  one  lot  a  filly  by  Almont,  from  & 
mare  by  Hambletonian,  another  from  a  thorovighbred  mare  by  imp. 
Knight  of  St.  George,  and  another  by  Jay  Gould,  from  a  mare  by 
Hambletonian,  and  the  uniformity  of  the  type  which  prevailed  between 
these  and  all  the  Almonts  and  other  Hambletonians  of  the  same  age 
— ^two-year-olds — seen  at  and  about  the  same  time,  was  truly  remark- 
able. Almont  is  a  Hambletonian,  and  the  Almonts  are  all  Ham- 
bletonians, with  as  clearly  stamped  uniformity  as  any  family  in 
America. 

In  the  matter  of  imparting  a  trotting  gait  to  the  produce  of  thor- 
oughbred and  other  highly  bred  mares,  I  have  compared  him  to 
Pilot  Jr.  and  Mambrino  Chief;  but  in  the  matter  of  positivene«s  in 
every  trait,  and  his  ability  to  impress  his  own  image  and  characteristics 
on  his  offspring — his  prepotency  as  a  sire — I  know  of  none  that  can 
approach  him — he  is  not  only  Almont  but  the  Alta-mont. 

As  a  trotter,  Almont  made  his  mark  before  he  entered  the  stud,  in 
one  race— the  only  one  in  which  he  ever  appeared,  and  in  which  he 
distanced  his  field  of  competitors  in  2:39tt,  at  the  age  of  four  years. 
He  was  trotted  over  Mr.  Alexander's  track  in  2:32,  which,  on  other 
tracks,  it  is  said,  would  be  equal  to  2:27.  He  was  soon  after  pur- 
chased by  Col.  West,  for  $8,000,  and  has  since  been  in  the  stud  con- 
stantly. Mr.  Lowell  drove  him  a  half  mile  in  1:12  while  in  stud 
service,  and  with  no  special  preparation  for  speed.  He  was  bought  by 
his  present  owner,  Gen.  W.  T.  Withers,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  the 
-winter  of  1874,  for  $15,000,  and  is  now  doing  a  large  stud  service. 
He  is  a  plain  but  good-looking  horse,  more  resembling  Florida  than 
any  other,  but  is  slightly  larger  and  heavier.  While  kept  exclusively 
for  stud  service,  he  is  driven  very  regularly,  and  can  show  a  gait  equal 
to  about  2 :20,  at  almost  any  day  of  the  year.  He  has  every  appearance 
of  a  well-conditioned  and  very  hardy  horse. 

My  readers  will  not  obtain  a  complete  idea  of  the  qualities  and 
character  of  Aluiont,  notwithstanding  his  rare  breeding,  and  the  extra- 


ALLIE   WEST.  287 

ordinary  qualities  of  the  other  members  of  the  same  family,  without 
a  a:lance.at  the  results  of  his  brief  service  in  the  stud.  He  made  his 
first  season  in  1869,  at  five  years  old,  and  of  that  year's  produce, 
twelve  have  been  handled,  and  all  trotted,  at  three  years  old,  in  2:50 
and  better.  Of  these,  one  that  I  have  admired  is  the  splendid  young 
stallion,  Almont  Chief,  owned  by  Geo.  M.  Jewett,  Esq.,  of  Zanesville, 
Ohio.  His  dam  was  Monogram  by  Mambrino  Chief,  one  of  the  best 
mares  left  by  that  great  stallion,  and  one  of  the  best  I  ever  saw 
anywhere.  For  high  breeding  and  rare  trotting  qualities,  I  have 
looked  upon  this  young  stallion  as  one  of  the  finest  I  ever  saw,  and 
regard  him  as  a  young  sire  of  very  great  promise. 

Of  this  same  list  was  AUie  West — truly  one  of  the  renowned 
trotters  of  our  day — a  large  and  beautiful  horse,  highly  formed  in 
every  respect.  He  trotted,  as  a  four-year-old,  in  1874,  at  Lexington, 
in  2:29. J,  distancing  the  whole  field  the  first  heat.  In  the  fall  of  1875, 
after  making  a  full  season  in  the  stud,  he  made  a  record  of  2:25,  and 
showed  that  he  could  have  done  still  better,  as  he  was  pulled  up  to  a 
jog  before  coming  to  the  wire.  He  went  to  the  half  mile  in  1:10. 
Soon  after  he  showed,  in  private,  a  half  mile  in  1:08,  and  was  pur- 
chased by  J.  B.  Wilgus,  for  $15,000.  He  made  the  season  of  1876, 
having  excited  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  a  brilliant  career, 
both  as  a  trotter  and  as  a  trotting  sire.  I  saw  him  about  the  1st  of 
July,  and  fully  acceded  to  the  high  estimate  that  prevailed  concerning 
him.  From  some  caxise,  not  yet  explained,  he  died  very  suddenly 
before  the  month  had  closed — certainly  a  great  loss,  and  one  which 
will  be  regretted  by  all  breeders  of  trotting  stock. 

Of  the  same  list,  Albrino,  in  1873,  won  the  \Yoodford  three-year- 
old  stakes,  at  Lexington,  and  has  since  shown  a  mile  in  2:30 — private. 
In  1873,  Alethea  won  the  Woodford  two-year-old  stakes,  and,  in  1874, 
she  won  the  1500  gold  stakes,  at  Lexington,  and,  in  1875,  made  a 
record  of  2:31,  after  trotting  a  five-heat  race  the  day  previous.  She 
is  from  a  strictly  thoroughbred  mare  by  Melbourne,  the  sire  of  Jim 
Irving.  Katie  Jackson,  four  years  old,  third  heat  2:25f,  which  was 
best  four-year-old  record  to  that  date.  Alice  West,  four  years  old, 
third  heat  2:29f. 

Consul,  by  Almont,  in  October,   1874,  won   the  regular  two-year- 
old  stakes,  at  Lexington,  and,  in  November,  same  year,  showed  2:39^, 
in  private,  over  Mr.  Alexander's  track,  and  a  quarter  in   36   seconds. 
In  the  spring  of  1875  he  won   the  regular  three-year-old  stakes  at 
19 


288       Alexander's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

Harrodsburg,  in  2:39.     Afterward,  when  very  lame,  he  started  and  won 
two  heats,  and  made  one  dead  heat,  at  Georgetown. 

Piedmont,  in  fall  of  1875,  at  Hartford,  won  the  Charter  Oak  stakes 
for  four-year-olds — the  first  race  he  ever  started  in — time,  2:32^,  2:34-^ 
and  2:30:^.     It  was  a  race  that  attracted  considerable  notice. 

Alvermont,  by  Almont,  in  September,  1875,  won  the  $500  free-for- 
all  jDurse,  offered  by  the  Fair  Association,  at  Lexington,  against  a  good 
field.  Alamo,  by  Almont,  taking  second  money. 

This  same  Alamo,  in  October,  1875,  at  St.  Louis,  won  the  premium 
offered  for  the  fastest  horse,  mare  or  gelding  of  any  age,  over  a  field 
of  fourteen  starters,  some  of  them  with  fast  records.  He  also  took 
premium  at  St.  Louis  for  best  four-year-old  roadster  stallion.  In 
1877,  after  a  full  season,  he  made  a  record  of  2:41. 

Latoka,  a  three-year-old  filly,  won  a  match  race  at  Georgetown,. 
Ky.,  distancing  Summer  Coon  in  first  heat. 

Trouble,  by  Almont,  won,  at  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  in  1875,  and  trotted 
several  races  in  the  Northwest,  winning  first  and  second  money,  and 
making  a  record  of  2:37:^,  at  Chicago,  in  July — four  years  old. 

Easter  Maid  won,  as  a  three-year-old,  first  heat  in  gold  stakes,  at 
Lexington,  Alethea  winning  the  race.  June  16,  1876,  at  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich.,  Easter  Maid  won  the  2:45  race,  taking  the  second,  third 
and  fourth  heats.     She  has  a  record  of  three  heats  each  in  2:35. 

Almont  Jr.  won  at  New  Orleans,  March  4,  1876,  in  three  heats,  in 
2:37f,  2:41f,  and  2:39^,  This  colt  was  sold  as  an. unsound  colt  at  hia 
breeder's  sale. 

Payne's  Almont  Jr.,  four  years  old,  2:33:|^. 

Aldine  was  winner  of  Breeders'  Centennial  stake  for  three-year-olds,, 
in?  2:37|^,  and  as  a  four-year-old  made  a  record  of  2:33^. 

Altamont,  2:39. 

It  should  be  said,  in  addition  to  the  above,  that  Easter  Maid  trotted 
in  1877,  on  a  half  mile  track,  in  2:27,  and  won  in  a  public  race,  but 
the  time  was  not  taken,  as  is  alleged,  because  it  was  at  a  fair. 

This  makes  a  list  of  actual  winners  that  will  far  surpass  that  of  any 
other  stallion  in  this  country  for  the  same  period  in  the  stud;  and  he 
has  others  not  named  above.  He  has,  to  this  date,  about  twenty 
winners  in  public  races. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  these  colts  trotted  at  two  years  old  and 
xipward,  and  won  in  hotly  contested  races,  often  in  fourth  and  fifth 
heats.  I  call  especial  attention  to  this  latter  fact,  inasmuch  as  it  has 
been  urged  against  some  of  these  colts  that  they  lacked  staying  qual- 


A   GREAT   SIUE.  289 

ities.  It  was  even  urged  against  that  great  young  horse  Allie  West, 
that,  after  doing  greater  than  his  age  had  ever  done  before,  he  did  not 
do  even  greater  things.  It  is  apparent  that  all  these  colts  have  been 
trotted  too  young,  according  to  the  custom  that  has  heretofore  prevailed 
in  other  parts  of  this  country;  but,  in  Kentucky,  they  have  in  late  years 
taken  to  trotting  their  horses  before  they  are  out  of  their  babyhood — 
a  most  pernicious  practice,  the  evil  of  which  has  been  very  forcibly 
and  justly  pointed  out  and  exposed  by  an  able  and  popular  writer. 
They  trot  them  in  races  of  three  to  five  heats,  at  an  age  when  they 
should  not  expect  any  but  the  most  extraordinary  and  precocious  to 
appear,  and  then  they  accuse  them  of  a  lack  of  stamina,  when  they 
have  shown  a  rate  of  speed,  and  a  degree  of  endurance,  that  have 
been  regarded  as  highly  creditable  in  thoroughly  seasoned  and  well- 
trained  horses — the  veterans  of  the  turf. 

I  may  here  observe  that  the  dams  of  Almont  Chief,  Allie  West, 
Albrino,  Piedmont,  and  several  others  of  the  most  promising  of  the 
sons  of  Almont,  were  mares  by  Mambrino  Chief — from  which  an 
impression  has  gained  some  currency,  that  Almont's  greatest  success 
will  be  with  such  mares.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  necessarily  true, 
although  I  am  ready  to  accord  high  merit  to  such  mares  as  the  dams 
of  trotters  or  trotting  sires.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  they 
represent  an  early  family,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  prod- 
uce of  other  mares  may  not  also  excel. 

In  conclusion,  I  may  call  attention  to  what  seems  to  demand  notice; 
that  while  it  is  true  that  Almont  is  made  up  of  three  successive 
crosses — almost  outcrosses — and  hence  might  be  regarded  as  entirely 
heterogeneous  in  his  composition,  he  is,  in  his  individual  qualities, 
entirely  homogeneous,  and  displays  remarkable  impressiveness  as  a 
sire. 

The  views  heretofore  ad^'anced  with  reference  to  the  Duroc-Mes- 
senger  blood  furnish  the  explanation  of  the  notable  fact  recognized 
in  the  success  of  Almont.  In  addition  to  the  Duroc,  the  Messenger 
.and  the  Bellfounder,  he  unites  the  Pilot  blood,  which,  as  already  sug- 
gested, and  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  is  one  that  fuses  readily  with 
other  bloods,  and,  above  all,  with  the  Duroc-Messenger.  This  is  the 
secret  of  the  great  success  of  this  horse  as  a  sire.  He  is  an  impres- 
sive sire  with  all  classes  of  mares,  and  in  the  case  of  Allie  West, 
from  a  mare  very  strong  in  the  Messenger  blood,  he  has  produced  a 
horse  that  should  give  reputation  to  any  sire.  I  have  closely  studied 
the  composition  of  Allie  West,  and  while  he  closely  resembles  an- 


290       alexais^der's  abdallah  and  descendants. 

other  great  stallion  now  in  Kentucky,  even  more  closely  than  he  does 
his  ovm  sire,  I  can  not  forbear  to  express  the  opinion  that  has  grown 
on  me  since  I  saw  him,  that  he  was  in  reality  the  best  trotting  stallion 
ever  foaled  in  the  State  of  Kentucky — an  opinion  that  does  not 
detract  from  the  value  of  his  own  sire,  or  the  champion  stallion 
of  1877. 

SONS   OF   ALMONT. 

The  space  allotted  to  this  list  will  not  suffice  to  enumerate  all  the 
sons  of  Almont  now  occupying  places  of  distinction. 

PiEDMOisT,  dam  Mag  Ferguson,  by  Mambrino  Chief;  2d  dam  by 
Grey  Eagle;  trotted  in  2:30^  at  four  years  old;  owned  by  Palmer  & 
Morgan,  of  Connecticut. 

Almont  Eagle,  full  brother  to  Piedmont;  owned  by  C.  W.  Gage, 
Nashua,  New  Hampshire. 

Trouble,  dam  by  Brown  Chief,  son  of  Mambrino  Chief;  2d  dam 
by  imported  Hooton;  3d  dam  by  Bertrand  (an  extra  good  pedigree;) 
has  two  winners  to  his  credit;  has  shown  a  2:20  gait,  and  trotted  a 
full  mile  in  2:25. 

CoxsTELLATiON,  foaled  1874;  owned  by  Gen.  W.  S.  Tilton,  Togus, 
Maine;  dam  Lady  Hunt,  by  Starlight,  son  of  Blood's  Blackhawk;  2d 
dam  by  Mambrino  Chief. 

Almont  Eclipse,  foaled  1873;  owned  by  John  B.  Clarke,  Man- 
chester, New  Hampshire;  dam  by  Morgan  Rattler,  sou  of  Green 
Mountain  Morgan;  2d  dam  by  a  son  of  Pilot  Jr.;  3d  dam  by  Down- 
ing's  Bay  Messenger;  4th  by  Lance. 

Almont  Rattler,  1871;  dam  by  Rattler,  son  of  Stockbridge  Chief ; 
2d  dam  by  Brignoli; — Pilot  Jr.; — Grey  Eagle;  owned  by  Judge  W. 
I.  Hayes,  Clinton,  Iowa;  is  one  of  the  best  sons  of  Almont. 

Alroy,  owned  by  C.  M.  Smith,  Earlville;  dam  by  Conscript;  2d 
dam  by  Mambrino  Chief;  was  awarded  first  premium  at  Illinois  State 
Fair,  1876,  by  a  committee  of  which  I  had  the  honor  to  be  chairman. 

Alamo,  dam  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  won  many  races,  and  was 
sold  for  15,000  to  C.  B.  Jones,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

Payne's  Almont,  and  a  full  brother  to  same;  dam  by  Blood's 
Blackhawk;  both  highly  promising  stallions  and  very  fast. 

Remington,  chestnut  stallion;  dam  Lady  Templar,  by  Mambrino 
Temjilar,  etc.,  etc.;  was  bred  by  myself,  and  is  now  owned  by  D.  W. 
x\rnuld,  of  Waukegan,  111. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

The  wide  dissemination  of  the  blood  of  the  family  known  as  the 
Bashaws  and  Clays,  which  form  the  subject  of  my  Chapter  XIX, 
led  to  the  employment  of  numerous  mares  of  that  family  for  breed- 
ing purposes.  Hambletonian  received  many  such,  and  several  of  his 
distinguished  sons  came  from  such  mares  respectively.  In  this  chap- 
ter I  present  for  consideration  the  representatives  of  that  class;  and 
they  furnish  us  with  some  valuable  lessons,  and  much  that  illustrates 
and  confirms  what  we  have  already  gone  over  in  previous  chapters. 

In  Chapter  XIX  it  will  be  seen  that  the  first  of  the  so-called  Clay 
family  was  produced  by  a  Canadian  trotting  mare  called  Surry.  We 
know  but  little  of  her,  except  that  she  was  a  mare  of  superior  trot- 
ting action,  and  was  said  to  possess  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
Canadians.  Her  son  Henry  Clay  was  noted,  among  other  points,  for 
long  rear  leverage,  that  is,  for  long  and  heavy  quarters.  This  is  often 
referred  to  by  those  who  knew  him,  and  will  be  more  particularly 
referred  to  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  that  family.  It  has  been  a 
noticeable  feature  of  the  several  branches  of  the  Clay  family  that  they 
are  still  noted  for  heavy  and  powerful  quarters;  but  the  length  of 
the  line  from  hip  to  hock  has  gradually  grown  shorter  with  each 
remove  from  the  first  Clay,  except  as  this  trait  has  found  reinforce- 
ment by  Bellfounder  or  other  crosses,  until  in  the  Clays  of  the 
present  day  but  a  slight  variation,  if  any,  can  be  found  from  the 
measure  in  length  of  the  Messenger  family.  I  only  call  attention  to 
this,  and  will  explain  it  fully  when  I  come  to  treat  of  that  family,  as 
showing  the  tendencies  of  the  uppermost  or  superior  blood  in  the 
composition  to  revert  to  the  original  standard  of  that  blood. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  of  the  partial  or  complete  return  of  the 
family  to  the  short  leverage,  their  manner  of  going,  or  action  of  the 
rear  propellers,  still  shows  the  effect  of  the  increase  of  power  and 

(291) 


292  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

stroke  which  came  into  the  family  from  the  Canadian  mare  Surry. 
The  stroke  of  the  Clays,  Columbuses,  St.  Lawrences  and  Canadians 
generally  bears  a  similarity  in  this  regard.  They  trail  their  feet  out 
behind  further,  and  do  not  lift  the  hocks  as  high  as  in  some  other 
families. 

When  crossed  with  the  blood  of  Bellfounder  in  Sayer's  Harry  Clay, 
or  coming  through  Hambletonian,  the  leverage  which  distinguished 
the  Bellfounder  and  the  original  Clay  seemed  to  encounter  a  mutual 
augmentation,  and  in  each  case  respectively  the  increase  of  leverage 
is  visible.  Even  when  the  cross  was  not  from  one  of  the  strong  or 
positive  families  the  effect  on  the  gait  or  action  of  the  rear  propellers 
is  noticeable  and  decisive  in  large  degree,  as  an  indication  of  the 
blood  forces  which  have  combined  to  produce  the  result. 

I  have  several  times  before  shown  that  the  one  great  need  of  the 
Messenger  family  was  increase  of  leverage;  that  Bellfounder  gave 
this,  and  the  result  was  an  increase  of  speed  and  trotting  quality. 
The  success  of  the  Clay  cross  in  the  Hambletonians  may,  in  like  man- 
ner, be  credited  to  the  same  cause  in  as  great  degree  as  anything  else. 
It  is  noticeable  that  the  success  of  the  cross  in  the  Bashaw  and  Clay 
blood  has  been  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  increase  in  leverage. 
Thus  the  Hambletonians  from  Bashaw  mares — not  Clays — bear  a 
small  ratio  of  speed  to  those  whose  dams  were  Clays;  and,  further, 
among  the  Clays,  the  most  distinguished  are  those  reinforced  by  the 
additional  Bellfounder  leverage — thus  proving  that  the  increase  in 
trotting  quality  is  in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  leverage. 

Moreover,  this  Clay  family  are  credited  with  inheriting  from  this 
same  maternal  ancestor  a  certain  peculiarity  of  temperament,  which 
by  some  has  been  supposed  to  have  come  from  his  apparent  low- 
breeding,  and  to  indicate  a  lack  of  stamina.  They  have  often  been 
styled  quitters.  While  I  do  not  concede  that  the  trait  is  a  lack  of 
staying  quality,  or  any  other  than  a  peculiarity  of  temperament — a 
nervous  or  mental  trait,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  comes  out  now 
and  then  in  such  unmistakable  form  as  to  amount  to  a  family  trait  or 
characteristic,  and  this,  when  it  does  appear,  may  also  be  considered 
as  a  proof  of  kinship;  for  it  has  appeared  so  often  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  Clay  family,  and  with  such  decided  manifestations,  as 
to  show  that  it  is  a  deeply  seated  and  inheritable  mental  or  nerve 
characteristic. 

Moreover,  this  Clay  family  have  been  noted  for  one  other  family  trait 
or  characteristic  in  large  degree,  and  with  great  prevalence,  and  that 
is,  in  the  matter  of  color  and  superficial  markings. 


GEORGE   WILKES.  293 

As  Bellfounder  was  distinguished  by  his  adherence  to  the  bay  and 
brown,  so  the  Clays  and  their  crosses  show  a  strong  partiality  for 
the  black,  and  the  brown  as  bordering  on  the  black,  and  for  more  or 
less  white  in  the  faces  and  on  the  les's.  These  latter  colorings  will  be 
shown  in  their  appropriate  chapter,  to  have  followed  the  family  from 
their  earliest  progenitors;  and  it  may  also  be  observed  that,  as  between 
the  two  families  of  the  Bellfounders  and  the  Clays  when  crossed,  in  this 
matter  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  element  of  color  the  supremacy 
must  be  said  generally  to  rest  with  the  Clays.  There  are  more  black 
and  dark  brown  Hambletonians  of  that  cross  than  there  are  bays  in 
the  Clay  family;  and  while  Hambletonian  himself  was  sometimes 
successful  in  controlling  the  color  of  his  sons  from  Clay  mares,  those 
sons  very  often  produce  black  colts  and  these  with  white  faces  and 
legs — showing  the  ultimate  supremacy  of  the  Clay  blood  in  the  matter 
of  color. 

GEORGE    WILKES. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  sons  of  Hambletonian.  He  is 
a  brown  horse,  and  was  foaled  in  1856.  He  was  bred  by  Col.  Felter, 
of  Greenwood  Lake,  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  first  called 
Robert  Fillingham.  Until  he  had  attained  the  age  of  nearly  twenty- 
two  years,  his  owners  and  others  interested  in  the  matter,  appear  to 
have  taken  about  the  same  degree  of  interest  in  the  blood  and  pedi- 
gree of  his  dam  as  was  shown  by  the  owners  and  friends  of  Abdallah 
during  his  lifetime.  She  was  a  mare  called  Dolly  Spanker,  and  noted 
for  her  own  good  qualities — a  road  mare  of  great  superiority.  How 
valuable  is  the  lesson  taught  by  the  fact  that  the  dam  of  almost  every 
great  stallion  and  performer  was  a  superior  road  mare!  She  was  a 
fine  roadster,  and  when  five  years  old  could  speed  in  about  3:30.  She 
appears  to  have  been  bred  by  Mr.  Clark  Philips,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bristol,  not  far  from  Geneva,  N.  Y.  She  was  by  Henry  Clay,  son  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  the  progenitor  of  the  family  of  horses  known  as 
the  Clays.  Her  dam  was  a  mare  called  Old  Telegraph,  by  a  horse 
called  the  Baker  Highlander,  but  it  does  not  clearly  appeai*  what  his 
blood  was.  The  accounts  agree  that  the  dam  and  grandam  of  Dolly 
Spanker  were  both  good  mares,  and  of  great  capacity  as  roadsters. 
This  mare  died  in  foaling,  and  her  colt,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  brought  up  by  hand  on  a  diet  of  cow's  milk  and  Jamaica  rum 
sweetened  with  loaf  sugar,  according  to  the  statement  given  to  the 
public.  This  may  in  part  account  for  the  lack  of  size  in  Wilkes;  he  is 
only  fifteen  hands   in  height,  but    very  fine   and   blood-like  in  every 


294  CLAY   HAMBLETONIAlSrS. 

part.  He  has  great  strength,  and  the  finest  muscle  over  his  back  and 
loin  I  have  seen  anywhere.  In  form  he  is  as  faultless  as  perfection 
itself.  His  iront  leg  measure  is  11  and  20,  and  he  exhibits  plenty  of 
what  they  call  knee  action.  His  colts  trot  with  light  shoes,  requiring 
no  extra  weight.  He  has  a  thigh  only  22  inches  in  length,  but  he  has 
a  very  muscular  and  finely  formed  quarter  and  gaskin.  He  is  as  clean 
cut  and  blood-like  as  any  stallion  in  the  land. 

The  evidences  relating  to  the  pedigree  of  the  dam  of  George 
Wilkes  have  only  been  brought  out  recently  through  the  efforts  of  the 
editor  of  the  Trotting  Hegister,  and  have  been  the  occasion  of  some 
controversy,  although  I  may  say  that  the  proofs  are  of  such  a  character 
as  to  leave  little  room  for  controversy,  and  the  pedigree  given  is  one 
of  such  conceded  merit  as  to  give  no  occasion  for  exception  on  that 
score.  Since  the  discovery  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  main  question 
many  others  have  come  to  light  which  furnish  strong  corroboration  of 
the  reputed  blood  of  the  dam  of  this  noted  stallion. 

I  may  here  mention  one  or  two  matters  bearing  on  this  question. 
When  the  facts  came  out  recently  tending  to  show  that  the  mare  was 
a  daughter  of  Henry  Clay,  I  wrote  to  a  gentleman  at  Lexington  to 
give  me  full  particulars  relating  to  the  color  and  markings  of  the  colts 
of  Wilkes.  I  had  seen  them  on  one  or  two  occasions  in  small  num- 
bers, but  preferred  a  statement  from  one  who  had  knoAvn  many  of 
them  since  his  going  to  Kentucky.  His  reply  was  that  many  of  his 
colts  are  black,  and  many  have  white  in  their  faces  and  white  feet  and 
leo-s  when  the  mares  had  no  such  marks,  and  were  of  other  colors — 
even  bays  and  chestnuts.  Of  the  correctness  of  this  matter  there  can 
be  no  question.  He  has  two  performers  in  the  2:30  list,  both  entered 
as  blacks.  His  fast  three-year-old  performer.  Girlie,  that  won  the 
stake  for  three-year-olds,  was  a  beautiful  black  filly.  He  not  only 
shows  a  leaning  toward  the  Clay  color,  but  it  would  seem  that  superi- 
ority in  his  produce  ran  in  the  same  direction.  I  may  say  that  horses 
of  the  Hambletonian  families  do  not  breed  after  such  colors  unless 
there  is  some  good  reason  for  it  near  at  hand. 

The  editor  of  Hiram  Woodruff's  Trotting  Horse  of  America.,  iu 
his  appendix,  describing  Wilkes,  speaks  of  him  thus: 

He  was  dark  brown  in  color,  fifteen  hands  high,  of  good  length  and  sub- 
stance, and  very  high'  behind.  Hit  liind  leg  when  nfmigJiteiied  out  in  action  as 
he  went  at  his  best  pace,  reminded  me  of  that  of  a  duck  in  swimming. 

This  latter  sort  of  action  in  a  Hambletonian  is  very  suggestive  of  a 
Clav  cross.     The  same  writer,  in  speaking  of  Wilkes'  match  against 


CLAY   CHAEACTERIPTICS.  295 

Gcri.  Butler,  and  a  two-mile  trial,  which  was  a  little  too  hard  fcft- the 
former,  says  that — 

For  a  loug  time  he  was  George  Wilkes  no  more.  He  gradually  recovered, 
most  of  his  speed  and  bottom,  hut  I  think  he  was  ever  after  a  little  inclined  to 
sulk,  and  he  never  achieved  that  place  upon  the  topmost  pinnacle  of  fame  for 
which  I  think  he  once  had  capacity. 

Apropos  of  this  incident  I  may  here  advert  to  a  remark  made  to 
me  by  an  old  gentleman  two  years  ago,  and  before  the  fact  of  the 
Clay  cross  in  this  stallion  was  suggested.  He  was  giving  me  his  per- 
sonal recollections  of  the  noted  stallions  of  the  past  and  present, 
having  known  most  of  them  for  nearly  fifty  years  intimately.  He 
characterized  Wilkes  as  a  quitter,  no  doubt,  in  his  own  way,  referring 
to  this  sulking  trait,  which  comes  out  in  the  Clay  family.  I  mention 
this  not  for  the  purpose  of  casting  any  unfavorable  reflection  on  tho 
horse,  but  as  an  incident  corroborative  of  the  evidences  now  presented 
that  his  dam  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  Clay. 

While  in  the  sense  referred  to  by  the  writer  above,  Wilkes  and  all 
the  Clay  family  were  what  we  call  quitters,  I  reject  in  toto  the  iden 
that  it  was  from  any  lack  of  bottom  or  stamina.  It  is  supposed  to 
have  come  in  with  the  Surry  mare,  the  dam  of  Henry  Clay,  but  it  was 
a  mental  or  nerve  trait,  not  an  evidence  of  physical  weakness.  I  have 
known  a  son  of  George  M.  Patchen  that  could  trot  a  mile  singly  in 
2:35,  but  let  an  opponent  press  him  hard,  collar  him,  or  get  the  least 
advantage  over  him,  and  he  could  not  be  made  to  go  his  mile  in  3:35. 
He  was  a  regular  sulker;  the  sting  of  defeat,  or  even  its  danger,  had 
such  an  effect  on  his  temper  that  he  viould  not  trot  even  if  he  could. 
Boston,  the  great  race-horse,  did  this  same  thing;  so  did  his  grandson, 
Harry  Bassett.  I  have  seen  Exchange,  a  horse  owned  by  John  Har- 
per, do  the  same  way,  and  he  would  stop  on  the  track  with  a  rider  on 
his  back  and  refuse  to  go  a  single  step — rather  an  uncertain  sort  of  a 
race-horse,  yet  he  was  a  fortunate  horse  in  most  of  his  races.  But 
certain  it  is,  that  George  Wilkes  possessed  this  very  peculiar  trait 
for  which  the  Clay  family  have  been  noted;  and  while  it  is  a  deeply 
seated  mental  trait  of  very  lasting  character,  and  one  that  does  not 
recommend  any  family  in  itself,  the  Clay  family  in  general  and  Wilkes 
in  particular,  have  displayed  a  degree  of  excellence  that  takes  most  of 
the  edge  from  this  objection,  however  serious  it  may  be. 

I  will  say  that,  to  my  mind,  the  evidences  are  quite  satisfactory, 
that  the  dam  of  George  Wilkes  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  Clay.  The 
superior  qualities  of  that   mare  and  of  her  own  dam  have  all  been 


296  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

brought  do\vn  and  reproduced  in  the  son.  "When  compared  with 
Hambletonian  the  most  casual  observer  must  be  able  to  see  that  his 
dam  had  a  great  share  in  moulding  his  form  and  general  conformation. 
He  has  the  finest  muscular  organization  to  be  found  among  the  sons  of 
Hambletonian,  and  over  the  back,  loin,  hips  and  quarters  he  is  truly 
magnificent. 

His  temper  is  not  quite  so  kind  as  that  of  his  sire,  and  he  does 
not  tolerate  any  familiarity  from  strangers.  He  has  the  appearance 
of  a  small  horse  of  intense  compactness,  and  of  the  highest  degree  of 
quality.     All  recognize  his  superiority  at  first  sight. 

As  a  trotter,  George  Wilkes  was  one  of  the  earliest  contributors  to 
the  fame  of  the  Hambletonian  family.  As  early  as  1862,  he  appeared 
against  such  a  veteran  as  Gen.  Butler,  in  a  race  which  the  latter 
won  in  2:21^.  He  trotted  against  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  Lady 
Thorn,  Rhode  Island,  Confidence,  Draco  Prince,  Fearnaught,  Geo. 
M.  Patchen  Jr.,  Mambrino  Prince,  Lucy,  and  American  Girl,  and 
attained  a  record  of  2:22,  having  trotted  fifty-six  heats  in  2:30  or 
better — more  than  any  other  son  or  daughter  of  Hambletonian,  and 
more  than  three  times  as  many  as  Dexter.  Only  four  of  the  sons  or 
daughters  of  Hambletonian  have  equaled  the  time  record  of  Wilkes. 
He  left  the  race  course  in  the  best  of  condition,  and  at  a  late  period 
began  a  successful  career  in  the  stud.  The  most  of  his  produce  are 
yet  too  young  to  fully  attest  his  merits  as  a  sire. 

He  has,  however,  a  showing  which  no  other  stallion  60  fast  as  he  was 
can  exhibit.  He  is  sire  of  May  Bird,  a  black  mare  that  has  a  record 
of  2:21,  and  has  69  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  Young  Wilkes,  a  stallion 
now  doing  service,  has  a  record  of  2:29,  with  five  heats.  He  also  pro- 
duced Girlie,  that  won  the  stake  for  three-year-olds.  He  has  been 
at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  for  several  years,  and  receives  a  liberal 
patronage,  and  will  undoubtedly  leave  a  produce  that  will  still  do 
honor  to  the  name  of  George  Wilkes  and  the  family  of  Hamble- 
tonian. 

nis  SONS. 

He  has  two  sons  that  are  doing  service  as  stallions.  Young  Wilkes 
and  Robert  Fillingham  Jr.,  the  former  now  owned  in  Chicago,  and 
the  latter  in  Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio. 

KNICKERBOCKER 

was  foaled  in  18G5,  by  Hambletonian,  1st  dam  by  George  M.  Patchen, 
2d  dam  by  Abdallah,  and  3d  dam  by  May  Day.     George  M.  Patchen 


KNICKERBOCKER.  297 

■was  by  old  Cassius  M.  Clay — the  most  distinguished  stallion  of  his  day 
— his  1st  dam  was  by  a  son  of  imported  Trustee.  George  M.  Patchen 
"was  one  of  the  most  noted  trotting  stallions  that  has  ever  appeared 
on  our  trotting  turf.  His  campaigns  form  a  brilliant  chapter  in  our 
turf  history.  May  Day  was  a  son  of  Henry,  the  celebrated  son  of 
Sir  Archy,  briefly  sketched  in  a  former  chapter.  The  1st  dam  of  May 
Day  was  Flower  by  Duroc,  from  Young  Damsel  by  Hambletonian, 
and  she  from  Miller's  Damsel  by  imported  Messenger,  and  she  was 
the  dam  of  American  Eclipse. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Knickerbocker  embraces  one  of  the  grand- 
est combinations  of  blood  to  be  found  in  any  one  stallion  now  before 
the  public,  and  he  is  in  reality  a  horse  in  every  respect  worthy  so 
great  a  lineage.  He  was  bred,  and  is  still  owned,  by  John  E.  Wood, 
of  Middletown,  N.  Y.,  who  owned  and  drove  his  dam  for  many 
years.  She  was  a  mare  known  as  Lady  Patchen,  and  was  bred  and 
owned  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  and  in  the  adjacent  regions  of 
New  Jersey,  and  driven  as  a  road  mare,  and  known  to  be  able  to  trot 
in  2:40.  Her  dam  was  by  Abdallah,  and  was  also  a  superior  road 
mare,  and  fast.  All  of  these  animals  were  so  well  known  in  the  State 
of  New  Jersey,  that  the  pedigree  may  be  regarded  as  entirely  authen- 
tic. Knickerbocker  is  one  of  the  largest  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian, 
and  for  a  horse  full  16  hands  high,  or  a  fraction  over,  may  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  formed  horses  to  be  found  anywhere.  He  is  a  rich, 
solid  bay,  black  mane,  tail  and  legs,  and  no  white,  except  a  large, 
rich  spot  or  star  in  the  forehead — a  regular  Bellfounder  star,  and  only 
to  be  compared  with  that  of  the  original  Bellfounder. 

When  we  come  to  a  close  inspection  of  the  outline  and  form  of 
Knickerbocker,  and  an  analysis  of  his  composition,  and  the  part  occu- 
pied by  each,  we  are  again  presented  with  an  interesting  subject  of 
study,  and  one  from  which  many  useful  lessons  may  be  derived.  It 
is  clear  that  Hambletonian  is  uppermost  in  the  entire  organism,  and 
yet  the  positive  blood  forces  of  George  M.  Patchen,  and  the  no  less 
peculiar  and  distinctive  features  of  Abdallah,  each  in  certain  places, 
stand  out  with  handsome  and  commanding  prominence.  George  M. 
Patchen  is  visible  in  the  fine  arched  neck,  and  the  graceful  and  finely 
proportioned  contour  of  the  whole  animal.  Abdallah  is  quite  apparent 
in  the  head  and  ear;  but  the  head  is  on  the  finer  Abdallah  pattern, 
and  with  the  broad  forehead,  and  handsome,  full-orbed  and  prominent 
eye,  gives  him  an  appearance  not  surpassed  by  any  representative  of 
the  true  Abdallah  pattern  that  I  have  ever  seen.     But  the  most 


298  CLAY   HAMBLKTONIANS. 

marked  and  noticeable  feature  is  the  peculiar  hanging  of  the  head  on 
the  neck,  and  which  is  striking  at  the  first  sight,  but  can  not  be 
described  better  than  to  say  that  it  is  a  facsimile  of  that  which  is 
seen  in  the  portrait  of  imported  Bellfounder.  His  ja^vs  are  wide 
apart,  and  his  throttle  clear  and  well  formed. 

The  Bellfounder  element  is  not  conspicuous,  except  in  the  blended 
or  Hambletonian  form,  which  has,  in  fact,  predominated  over  all  other 
elements  in  the  general  make-up  of  the  horse.  But  in  this  I  wish  to 
be  understood,  that  it  is  only  that  manifestation  of  Bellfounder  which 
appears  in  Hambletonian  and  in  the  average  of  his  family.  The  dis- 
tinctive and  positive  features  of  the  Bellfounder  blood,  by  which  he 
wa::  most  clearly  distinguishable  in  his  individuality,  do  not  clearly 
and  positively  appear  in  many  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian;  but 
while  saying  this,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  Bellfounder  in  Hambletonian  and  many  of  his  sons. 

As  I  before  stated,  Knickerbocker  is  thoroughly  and  very  com- 
pletely Hambletonian  in  all  his  general  characteristics.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  late  Mr.  Rysdyk  pronounced  Knickerbocker  the  best 
bred  son  of  Hambletonian,  but  this  I  give  on  information.  The  one 
positive  feature  of  the  horse,  which  gives  character  to  all  of  his  prod- 
uce, and  will,  in  my  opinion,  amount  to  a  family  type,  is  the  matter 
of  gait.  His  own  motion  I  have  not  seen,  and  can  only  judge  of  it 
by  the  way  of  going  which  he  has  impressed  on  his  produce,  with  a 
degree  of  uniformity  hardly  surpassed  by  any  of  the  other  sons  of 
Hambletonian.  This  is  one  of  the  evidences,  to  my  mind,  that  he 
will  prove  a  sire  of  strong  impressive  quality. 

The  gait  of  the  young  Knickerbockers  is,  in  the  main,  and  witli 
very  great  uniformity,  the  joint  product  of  the  Abdallah  and  the 
Patchen  or  Clay  blood,  and  it  is  c^uite  difficult  to  determine  which  of 
these  predominates.  When  we  come  to  speak  of  gaits,  and  attempt 
to  classify  them,  the  Abdallah  and  the  Clay  or  Patchen  gait  might  be 
placed  in  the  same  general  class,  as  in  some  respects  they  are  similar* 
the  main  feature  of  which  is,  that  they  are  a  sort  of  polling  or  pro- 
pelling gait,  the  chief  action  being  apparent  in  the  extended  position 
of  the  hind  legs.  The  animal  leans  forward,  and  seems  really 
pushed  or  shoved  ahead  by  the  action  of  the  hind  legs,  far  extended 
in  the  rear.  But  to  a  mind  or  an  eye  accustomed  to  look  closely^ 
or  to  discriminate  with  nicety  in  this  manner  of  going,  there  is  a 
nice  and  a  very  perceptible  difference  in  the  two. 

The  Clay  or  Patchen  gait  is  one  that  goes  with  an  appearance  of  a. 


ABDALLAH   GAIT.  299 

great  expenditure  of  power.  The  legs  extend  far  backward,  and  are 
drawn  up  and  sent  forward  with  apparently  great  muscular  force  and 
energy;  hence  they  have  the  appearance  of  big-gaited  trotters, 
although  this  term  is  also  often  used  to  describe  a  wide,  open  gait. 
The  Clays  are  not  generally,  nor  necessarily,  wide,  open-gaited,  but 
they  extend  far  out  behind  and  reach  far  forward.  Their  measure- 
ment often  appears  long  from  hip  to  hock,  and  Knickerbocker's  41-2- 
inches  comes  to  him  by  legitimate  right  of  inheritance  fi'om  two  lines 
of  long-leverage  ancestry.  It  is  this  extreme  measurement  and  the 
great  power,  or  rather  appearance  of  power,  with  which  they  drive  them- 
selves forward,  the  body  swaying  to  and  fro,  that  gives  them  distinct- 
ive type  or  character  of  gait.  It  is,  in  appearance,  a  violent  and 
demonstrative  way  of  going,  and,  in  reality,  involves  tlie  expenditure 
of  great  propelling  power;  and  it  may  be  a  question  worthy  of  con- 
sideration, if  the  failure  of  some  of  this  family  to  hold  out  in  the  race 
be  not  owing  to  their  prodigal  use  of  phj^sical  resources.  If  a  horse 
possesses  an  unusually  long  measurement  from  hip  to  hock,  it  is 
a  question  to  be  considered  wdiether  he  should  not  also  have  a  long 
thigh — the  one  leverage  rendering  the  other  necessary  also.  The 
produce  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay  invariably  have  a  long  line  from  hip 
to  hock,  so  far  as  I  have  met  them — 40  to  42  inches — and  it  is  a  note- 
worthy fact  that  the  sires  that  have  succeeded  best  with  them  have 
also  had  a  long  thigh — Volunteer  24  inches,  and  Messenger  Duroc 
25-|-  inches.  But  in  this  matter  there  are  some  apparent  exceptions, 
which  are  controlled  by  location  and  power  of  muscle,  as  in  the  case 
of  Lady  Thorn,  and  by  the  character  of  that  muscle,  and  the  form  or 
way  in  which  it  chiefly  works. 

The  Abdallah  gait  is  like  that  of  the  Clay  in  this,  that  the  hind  leg 
appears  to  extend  backward  much  in  the  same  line  or  manner  as  the 
Clay,  but  not  so  far,  and  is  brought  forward  also  much  in  the  same 
line,  though  not  so  far,  but  with  an  elastic,  springy  motion — the  very 
opposite  of  the  violent  and  demonstrative,  that  gives  the  eye  the 
impression  that,  in  reality,  no  power  at  all  is  being  expended.  The 
legs  appear  to  extend  moderately,  but  do  not  really  appear  to  bend, 
and  the  muscles  work  so  easily  that  they  do  not  seem  to  be  working 
at  all;  the  body  appears  to  rock  gently  to  and  fro  on  four  straight 
legs,  and  yet  glides  or  dances  along  with  an  ease  that  can  scarcely  be 
described  or  even  comprehended.  The  perfection  of  the  Abdallah 
gait  is  seen  in  Goldsmith  Maid;  and  the  ease  with  which  she  will 
dance  and  glide  along,  her  body  gently  swaying  to  and  fro,  and  pass 


300  CLAY   IIAMBLETONIANS. 

over  a  mile  in  3:20  or  better,  without  making  half  the  display  of 
great  trotting  action  that  many  make  in  going  at  2:45,  is  marvelous 
to  the  eyes.  The  action  of  the  pure  Abdallah  does  not  seem  to  de- 
pend on  great  mass  of  muscle.  He  is  a  lithe,  sinewy  fellow,  and 
his  joints  have  a  spring  about  them  that  gives  him  a  light,  elastic 
bound  at  each  step;  he  seems  to  roll,  or  rock,  gently  from  side  to  side 
on  each  of  his  four  feet,  as  if  his  legs  were  stiff  and  springy,  but  does 
it  with  such  ease  as  to  remind  one  of  a  herd  of  deer  on  the  prairie 
when  they  come  down  from  their  long  leaps  to  their  lofty  rocking- 
trot,  in  which  they  seem  to  employ  no  muscle  at  all  and  scarcely  bend 
their  limbs.  The  Abdallah  horse  is  not  one  of  long  measure  or  skel- 
eton (his  thigh  and  length  from  hip  to  hock  would,  in  a  horse  of  15 
hands  3  inches  in  height,  be  about  the  Hambletonian  average  of  23 — 
39  inches),  but  his  agility  and  fleetness  are  due,  in  great  measure,  to 
the  perfection  of  the  materials  of  which  he  is  made. 

The  Knickerbocker  family  show  much  of  the  gait  1  have  last  above 
described,  but  not  in  its  easiest  and  finest  types.  The  longer  con- 
formation, derived  from  the  Patchen  cross,  and  the  vigorous  way  of 
going  which  is  peculiar  to  that  family,  has  imparted  something  of  that 
form  to  the  gait  of  the  family  under  consideration.  Instead  of  the 
light  and  lithe  dancing  gait  of  Goldsmith  Maid  they  have  one  of  great 
elasticity,  but  of  more  positive  and  vigorous  propelling  appearances, 
and  at  the  same  time  not  quite  so  demonstrative  and  slashing  as  that 
of  the  Clays  and  Patchens  generally.  On  first  seeing  them  move  I 
was  forcibly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the  well-bred  daughters  of 
Knickerbocker  would  be  the  best  of  all  the  second  Hambletonians  for 
brood  mares  to  breed  to  the  other  best  sons  of  the  same  family.  Had 
I  a  finely-bred  mare  by  Knickerbocker,  possessed  of  the  gait  and 
qualities  exhibited  by  all  of  his  stock  that  I  have  ever  seen,  I  would 
feel  that  I  had  one  that  would  mate,  with  the  very  best  possible 
promise  of  great  excellence,  with  Volunteer,  Florida,  Administrator, 
Almont  or  Thorndale,  and  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  far  preferable  to 
any  daughter  of  Hambletonian  himself.  If  I  were  to  breed  a  son  of 
Knickerbocker,  I  should  like  a  mare  by  Volunteer  for  the  dam ;  and 
if  she  had  an  Abdallah  pedigree  further  back,  it  would  be  still  more  in 
her  favor,  as  I  should  then  hope  to  approach  still  nearer  to  the  Ab- 
dallah gait  in  its  finer  form  and  higher  perfection.  Such  breeding 
would  also  tend  toward  ])roducing  a  stallion  of  far  more  impressive 
power,  and  one  more  distinctive  in  his  type  and  character  than  if  made 
up  of  more  diverse  elements. 


ELACKSTONE.  301 

I  need  only  add  that  Knickerbocker  is  a  horse  16  hands  and  one- 
half  inch  high  on  his  withers,  and  one  inch  higher  on  his  rump; 
has  a  measure  of  414-  inches  from  hip  to  hock  ;  and  24^  inches 
in  length  of  thigh  ;  is  11^  inches  in  his  front  cannon-bone  ;  and 
23  inches  in  his  forearm,  which,  for  so  large  a  horse,  is  a  splendid 
measurement,  and  in  as  fine  proportion  as  can  be  found  in  the  Ham- 
bletonian  family.  The  gait  I  have  described  in  his  produce  is  just  such 
as  should  follow  such  proportions- 
One  or  two  suggestions  will  close  this  part  of  the  present  chapter. 
This  horse  is  one  that  has  been  kept  in  the  dark,  and  has  had  few  or 
no  mares  deserving  in  excellence  of  his  own  rare  combmation  of  blood. 
His  owner  has  not  kept  him  at  home  as  he  should  have  been  kejit, 
and  has  not  brought  him  into  the  notice  of  the  breeding  public  in 
such  manner  as  to  allow  his  merits  to  be  known.  Much  of  the  repu- 
tation, as  well  as  success  of  a  stallion,  is  owing  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  is  held  before  the  public  by  his  owner. 

He  is  certainly  worthy  of  the  patronage  of  the  best  mares  of  any 
family  or  blood,  and  in  so  far  as  he  is  deprived  of  them  the  breeding 
public  is  kept  in  ignorance  of  his  real  merits,  inasmuch  as  he  is  kept 
for  no  other  purpose  than  stud  service,  scarcely  leaving  the  premises 
of  his  owner  for  shoeing.  He  has  produced  a  few  trotters  of  local 
fame  that  are  very  promising,  but  prior  to  1875,  none  of  his  produce 
had  ever  been  in  the  hands  of  a  trainer,  so  far  as  I  can  learn.  I  should 
send  to  him  with  the  greatest  confidence. 

BLACKSTONE. 

This  is  a  brown  stallion,  foaled  in  1867.  His  dam  was  Dolly,  by 
Jupiter;  second  dam  the  Simonson  mare,  by  Abdallah,  and  the  third 
dam  by  Engineer.  He  was  bred  by  John  Gr.  Wood,  of  West  Mill- 
bury,  Mass. 

His  breeding  shows  a  great  concentration  of  the  blood  of  Messen- 
ger. Jupiter  was  by  Long  Island  Black,  from  Gipsy  by  Almack. 
Almack  was  bred  by  Mr.  John  Tredwell,  of  Long  Island,  the  breeder 
of  Abdallah.  He  was  by  Mambrino,  and  his  dam  was  the  mare 
called  Sophonisba,  and  was  for  several  years  driven  by  Mr.  Tredwell 
as  the  mate  of  Amazonia,  the  dam  of  Abdallah.  Sophonisba  was  by  a 
grandson  of  imp.  Baronet,  and  was  bred  by  Mr.  Tredwell.  Almack 
was  foaled  in  1823,  the  same  year  with  Abdallah,  and  Jupiter  was 
foaled  in  1849,  the  same  year  with  Hambletonian. 

Blackstone  has  been  kept  in  Massachusetts,  and  is  little  known  away 


302  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

from  home.  He  is  said  to  show  excellent  qualities  as  a  roadster  and 
as  a  sire.  He  has  a  three-year-old  son  in  the  West,  owned  by  Wm, 
Bonner,  Esq.,  of  Beaver  Dam,  Wis.  He  is  called  Maitland,  and  was 
bred  by  David  Bonner,  Esq.,  of  New  York.  His  pedigree  is  as  fol- 
lows: By  Blackstone — dam  Dolly,  by  Parrish  Hambletonian ;  second 
dam  by  Duroc  Messenger;  third  dam  by  Russell's  Eclipse;  Parrish 
Hambletonian  by  Harris'  Hambletonian,  he  by  Bishop's  Hamble- 
tonian, son  of  imp.  Messenger. 

One  of  the  largest  breeders  of  Wisconsin,  and  one  of  the  best 
judges  of  horses  known  to  me,  describes  this  colt  as  quite  equal  to  his 
pedigree,  which  certainly  presents  a  combination  of  the  finest  trotting 
strains  anywhere  to  be  found. 

This  horse,  while  not  strictly  of  the  Clay  cross,  belongs,  on  the 
dam's  side,  to  the  Bashaw  family,  and  hence  his  sketch  is  inserted  here. 

black's  hambletonian. 

This  is  a  bay  stallion,  foaled  1868.  He  is  dark  in  color,  has  a  large 
star,  and  below  it  a  strip  that  extends  downward  to  the  end  of  the 
nose. 

He  was  bred  by  C.  R.  Bull,  of  Orange  county.  New  York,  and  is 
owned  by  S.  Baxter  Black,  of  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  bought  by  Mr.  Black  when  one  year  old,  from  his  breeder,  for 
13,500.  His  dam  was  Kitt,  by  Long  Island  Blackhawk — a  very 
superior  mare,  that  could  trot  in  three  minutes. 

He  has  been  kept  exclusively  for  stud  purposes,  but  is  a  good 
gaited  horse,  and  esteemed  good  for  2:30,  with  no  great  amount  of 
handlino-.  He  is  a  good  breeder,  and  has  some  very  handsome  pro- 
duce. Though  young,  they  can  show  in  2:40  or  better,  but  have  not 
been  yet  entered  on  the  race  courses.  He  is  a  cleanly  formed  horse, 
is  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  high,  and  has  a  splendid  back  and  loin. 
He  has  good  quarters,  and  shows  the  caste  of  the  Hambletonian 
family  in  high  degree. 

His  blood  ought  to  make  him  a  valuable  horse,  and  such  he  is 
regarded,  and  will,  with  age,  have  the  fruits  to  show  for  the  excellence 
of  his  form  and  his  high  breeding. 

This  horse  being  also  of  the  Bashaw  cross  is  inserted  here. 

PEACEMAKKK. 

This  is  a  brown  stallion,  foaled  18G4:.  His  first  dam  was  Sally 
Feagles,  by  Smith's  Clay;  second  dam  by  Hickory,  son  of  Hickory 


PEACEMAKER.  303 

the  thoroughbred.  He  was  bred  by  Nathan  Feagles,  of  Orange 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  is  owned  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Nodine,  of  Brooklyn,  and  is 
at  present  in  the  possession  of  Gen.  Tracy,  at  his  breeding  farm  at 
Owego,  N.  Y. 

Smith's  Clay  was,  T  believe,  a  son  of  either  old  Cassius  M.  Clay  or 
of  Neave's  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr.,  a  horse  whose  name  has  been  either 
changed  or  one  that  has  been  lost  to  sight,  as  we  find  no  clear  traces 
o/  him  in  the  Trotting  Register. 

Not  having  seen  the  stallion  Peacemaker,  I  insert  here  the  following 
account  of  him  from  the  pen  of  Hark  Comstock,  the  well  known  con- 
tributor, as  found  in  'Wallace's  Monthly.  It  will  be  accepted  by  all: 
as  an  accurate  description  of  the  stallion: 

"  Peacemaker  stands  about  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  upon  short  legs,, 
and  is  a  horse  of  immense  substance.  His  color  is  better  described  aa 
black-and-tan  than  brown,  his  coat  is  glossy  and  rich,  and  his  general 
contour  attractive.  His  disposition  is  fine,  as  evinced  by  a  mild,  intel- 
ligent countenance  and  obedient  deportment.  He  has  a  clean  neck,. 
fine  for  a  stallion,  yet  of  the  moderate  length,  that  runs  in  the  Hamble- 
tonian  family.  His  shoulder  is  good,  deep  and  strong,  and  well  laid 
back,  terminating  in  withers  of  but  moderate  height.  His  back, 
loin  and  quarters  are  cut  in  the  mould  of  perfection,  and  he  imparts 
them  to  most  of  his  offspring.  His  legs  and  feet  are  well  placed 
under  him,  and  his  poise  is  good.  His  stroke  when  moving  is  bold 
and  far-striding.  His  action  appears  rather  excessive  for  a  performer 
of  the  highest  order,  but  displays  an  elasticity  and  flexion  usually 
Hked  in  a  sire.  For  some  time  I  have  been  impressed  with  the  belief 
that  Peacemaker  is  destined  to  achieve  an  honorable  distinction 
among  trotting  sires;  yet  so  often  is  it  the  case,  that  matters  of  this, 
kind  of  great  promise,  either  from  unseen  deficiencies  or  faulty  manip- 
ulation, come  to  naught,  that  I  have  always  a  hesitancy  in  expressing 
personal  preferences,  preferring  to  uphold  the  pubUc  record  as  the 
true  guide,  as  indeed  it  is,  for  all  purposes  of  general  discussion  and 
plans  of  operation.  The  deviations  which  circumstances  suggest  ta 
each  person  for  himself  to  determine  are  of  course  essential  elements 
for  consideration,  but  are  subject  to  partisan  prejudice  for  or  against 
individual  horses,  to  which  there  is  no  adequate  answer  untU  comings 
records  decide  disputed  points.  Therefore  all  such  discussions  are 
profitless.  In  December,  18?G,  I  so  far  overstepped  my  expressed 
views  on  this  point,  as  to  call  attention  in  the  Monthly  to  the  gelding- 
Midnight,  by  Peacemaker,  upon  the  strength  of  a  private  trial  in  his 
20- 


304  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

then  fcnir-3'car-old  form,  in  which  he  had,  wiih  xevy  Utile  handlinfr, 
shown  a  mile  in  2:29:^.  In  doing  so,  I  brought  upon  myself  no  little 
g-ood-natured  banter  very  justly  bestowed,  yet  by  good  fortune  the  colt 
has  since  supported  me  in  the  departure,  by  making  a  first-class  five- 
year-old  record,  in  his  first  and  only  race,  at  the  Grand  Circuit  Meet- 
ing of  1877,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  scored  a  second  heat  in 
2;22t,  and  a  third  in  2:22|^,  which,  for  the  age,  is  directly  among  the  very 
best  of  records.  This  performance  is  a  heavy  gain  for  Peacemaker 
as  a  sire,  and  shows  that  his  possibilities  under  favorable  circumstances 
are  very  great;  probably  no  sire  of  his  age  has  achieved  a  five-year- 
old  of  equal  record.  Unfortunately  a  waiting  policy  has  been  chosen 
by  those  who  have  controlled  most  of  his  get,  and  while  several  have 
had  credit  for  much  speed,  they  have  been  held  back  from  the  turf. 
The  late  Mr.  Z.  B.  Van  Wyck,  of  Flatbush,  contemplated  putting  two 
of  them  forward  this  coming  season.  One  was  a  young  mare  out  of 
his  favorite  brood-mare,  Nellie  Moore,  credited  with  a  marvelous  tui'n 
of  speed,  but  not  very  steady;  the  other  a  seven-year-old  gelding  out 
of  a  mare  by  Iron  Duke,  son  of  Cassius  M.  Clay,  that  he  paid  me  the 
compliment  to  name  Comstock.  His  late  owner  assured  me  that, 
without  professional  aid,  his  boys  had  quickly  developed  him  to  a 
trial  in  2:28  over  a  slow  track,  and  he  held  great  expectations  of  him 
for  the  year  1878.  I  do  not  altogether  fancy  his  make-up,  and  am 
free  to  say  that,  while  I  know  of  few  as  comparatively  green  that  have 
so  much  speed  at  command  as  he  shows  in  brushes,  I  coidd  select, 
from  among  the  progeny  of  the  same  sire,  others  from  whom  I  should 
expect  greater  ultimate  results." 

The  record  of  this  gelding.  Midnight,  stands  at  2:22:|^,  as  stated  in 
the  foregoing.  In  looking  over  the  catalogue  of  Mr.  Nodine,  I  noticed 
several  blacks  in  the  list  of  the  produce  of  Peacemaker,  which  attest 
his  kinship  to  the  produce  of  George  Wilkes  in  the  Clay  blood. 

Peacemaker  has  not  received  a  large  patronage,  but  the  impression 
generally  prevails  among  horsemen  and  breeders  in  the  East  that  he 
is  a  horse  of  great  superiority,  and  that  he  is  yet  likely  to  repeat  the 
high  mark  he  has  set  in  his  first  scion  in  the  2:30  list. 

It  is  stated  that  he  has  been  placed  in  the  custody  of  Gen.  Tracy, 
at  Owego,  for  a  probable  term  of  several  years,  and  the  high  reputa- 
tion he  has  already  achieved  will  be  likely  to  follow  him  into  this  new 
locality,  where  oi)portunities  for  reaching  such  valuable  sires  have  not 
been  so  good,  and  we  may  look  to  the  future  of  his  career  in  the 
expectation  of  results  not  less  cheery  than  the  dawn  which  has  for  a 
paradox  been  heralded  by  the  darkness  of  Midnight. 


AN   IN-BRED   MESSENGER.  305- 

HAMBLETOXIAIf    PRINCE. 

This  stallion  is  a  bay,  foaled  in  18(53,  and  registered  in  the  first  vol- 
ume of  the  Trotting  Register  by  the  name  of  Supervisor.  He  is  owned 
by  Messrs.  David  and  Sidney  A.  Baird,  of  Otsego  county,  New  York. 
Not  having  had  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  this  horse,  and  he  being 
one  that  represents  the  class  of  strong  and  close  breeding  in  the 
Messenger  blood,  I  am  unwilling  to  pass  him  without  notice  in  this 
Avork.  I  therefore  copy  from  Wallace's  Monthly  a  description,  from 
the  pen  of  a  well  known  correspondent  of  the  turf  journals,  as  fol- 
lows: 

"HAMBLETOis'iAif  Prince. — Bay  stallion,  Avith  oiF  hind  ankle  white, 
a;id  two  small  stars  in  forehead,  one  on  the  nose,  with  mottled  flanks, 
fifteen  and  one-half  hands  high.  Bred  by  Edwin  Thorne,  Thorndale, 
Duchess  county,  New  York;  got  by  Rysdyk's  Hambletonian,  dam 
Nellie  Cammeyer  (who  trotted  in  2:32) — by  Cassius  M.  Clay;  g.  d.  by 
Chancellor,  son  of  Mambrino;  g.  g.  d.  by  Mount  Holly,  son  of  imp. 
Messenger;  g.  g.  g.  d.  by  Engineer,  son  of  imp.  Messenger.  Hamble- 
tonian Prince  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Baird,  in  February,  1873,  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Mattison,  New  York.  He  had  not  served  a  mare  up  to  the 
time  of  passing  into  Mr.  Baird's  hands,  consequently  his  eldest  colts 
are  now  only  five  years  old.  He  is  a  stoutly  made  horse,  capital  legs 
and  feet,  very  evenly  balanced,  quiet  in  disposition,  yet  full  of  life, 
and  beautifully  gaited.  He  was  never  regularly  trained,  but  was 
driven  by  Alexander  Patterson  in  2:40,  when  four  years  old,  and 
would  trot  very  fast,  if  his  engagements  in  the  stud  would  permit  of 
his  being  trained.  One  of  the  first  of  his  get,  Helene,  chestnut  filly, 
sold  to  W.  B.  Gould,  Newark,  New  Jersey,  won  second  money  in  the 
Country  Gentleynan  Stake  for  three-year-olds,  at  Albany,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1876,  in  2:47^;  and  at  the  Otsego  County  Fair,  two  weeks  later, 
she  trotted  in  the  mud  in  2:40^.  In  1877  she  was  trained  but  a  little, 
as  her  new  owner  preferred  to  have  a  sound  and  coming  trotter,  rather 
than  a  broken-down  colt,  with  a  mere  colt  reputation.  Still,  with 
moderate  work,  she  trotted  in  2:36^.  She  is  beautifully  gaited,  fifteen 
and  three-quarter  hands,  and  like  all  of  his  get,  of  endless  endurance. 
Susan  F.  Cooper,  owned  by  P.  Kelly,  West  Troy,  New  York,  of  the 
same  age,  trotted  a  half  mile,  driven  by  her  owner  to  a  wagon  in  1:20, 
and  had  not  been  to  a  track  a  half-dozen  times.  Happy  Traveller, 
another  of  the  same  age,  and  out  of  Lady  Larkin,  owned  by  Mr. 
Hugh  Huntington,  South  Charleston,  Ohio,  trotted  a  mile  and  repeat, 
this  last  fall,  over  a  new  and  soft  track  in  2:35^  and  2:35.     The  per- 


306  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

formance  seemed  so  good  that  they  took  him  to  anotlier  track  which 
was  fast  and  firm,  and  he  trotted  seven-eighths  of  a  mile,  the  length 
of  the  track,  in  2:11^,  being  at  the  rate  of  2:28  to  the  mile.  He  is  a 
bay  stallion  fifteen  and  three-quarters  hands.  Had  the  performance 
been  made  over  Buffalo  Park,  he  would  not  be  classed  as  second  ta 
any  of  the  four-year-olds  of  1877.  Another  of  his  get,  Clifford  G.^ 
trotted  a  half  mile,  the  first  time  to  a  sulky,  at  Waverly  Park,  New 
Jersey,  last  fall, in  1:24;  and  the  bay  colt, Horace  F.  Jones,  also  by  him, 
was  taken  up  from  pasture  last  fall,  shod  and  brought  to  a  track,  won 
a  heat  in  3:06,  and  had  never  been  driven  enough  to  break  him  to 
harness.  Amons:  the  noted  mares  that  were  stinted  to  him  last  season 
were:  Gazelle,  record  2:21;  Lady  Larkin  (dam  of  Lady  Varick  and 
Happy  Traveller);  Madge  Golddust  by  Golddust  Jr.,  and  the  dam  of 
Belle  of  Otsego. 

"  We  were  at  Mount  Wellington  Stock  Farm  last  fall,  and  a  close 
scrutiny  of  the  youngsters  left  us  with  no  other  impression  than  that 
here  was  a  great  young  sire.  But  even  before  we  looked  over  his  get, 
we  expected  to  see  just  what  we  did;  for  his  high  breeding  and  deep 
dipping  into  the  prized  Messenger  blood,  having  but  two  outcrosses, 
that  of  Bellfounder  and  Cassius  M.  Clay  (both  good  enough  for  the 
most  fastidious),  gives  the  converts  to  the  Messenger  theory  a  strong- 
point  for  argument,  when  they  glance  at  the  breeding  of  this  stallion, 
and  calculate  the  chances  of  his  success  as  a  stock-getter,  for  it  seem& 
as  if  he  must  get  trotters  by  the  operation  of  the  natural  law  of  repro- 
duction— like  producing  like;  and  so  far  the  results  have  been  marvel- 
ous under  none  too  favorable  conditions.  He  has  good  size,  plenty  of 
substance,  is  full  of  quality  all  over,  can  speed  fast,  is  a  perfect-tem- 
pered horse,  and  is  bred  to  the  Queen's  taste.  If  anything  more  than 
this  can  be  asked,  it  is  for  him  to  produce  trotters;  and  this  he  is  doing- 
as  fast  as  possible." 

I  sincerely  regret  that  I  have  not  seen  the  horse,  as  I  am  quite  sure 
he  would  furnish  some  points  worthy  of  very  close  consideration  and 
careful  study.  The  characteristics  of  this  horse  as  they  would  appear 
from  his  breeding — not  having  seen  him — are  easily  delineated.  The 
pedigree  is  one  of  the  strongest  in  Messenger  blood.  The  blood  of 
Messenger  in  the  composition  of  Hambletonian  would  be  so  far  rein- 
forced in  the  dam  of  this  horse  as  to  make  him  one  of  the  strongest 
and  closest  in  that  blood  anywhere  to  be  found. 

The  dam  Nellie  Cammeyei,  was  by  Cassius  M.  Clay,  a  horse  of 
Messenger  descent;  second   dam  by   Chancellor,  son   of  Mambrinoj 


IDOL   AND   ELECTIONEER.  307 

third  dam  by  Mount  Holly,  son  of  Messenger;  fourth  dam  by  Engi- 
neer, son  of  Messenger.  The  dam  of  Chancellor  was  by  Messenger, 
hence  the  dam  of  this  stallion  had  five  close  and  direct  crosses  of  the 
l)lood  of  Messenger,  all  in  four  generations. 

This  composes  one  of  the  strongest  concentrations  of  the  blood  of 
Messenger  anywhere  to  be  found.  The  dam  of  Henry  Clay,  the  sire 
•of  Cassius  M.  Clay,  was  the  Canadian  mare  Surry,  as  before  stated, 
and  she  would  give  an  increase  of  leverage,  and  this  tendency  toward 
an  elongation  there  would  meet  with  a  further  reinforcement  in  the 
blood  of  Bellfounder  in  Hambletonian,  but  whether  the  elongation 
could  be  maintained  against  such  overpowering  force  of  Messenger 
blood,  can  only  be  told  by  an  inspection  of  the  animal.  In  the  other 
Clay  Hambletonians,  the  length  of  leverage  is  reinforced  by  the  Bell- 
founder  element  and  the  combined  force  of  the  two  whose  tendencies 
are  in  that  direction  show  their  force  as  against  the  opposing  tenden- 
cies; but  in  the  later  branches  of  the  Clay  family,  the  increased  length 
has  in  most  cases  disappeared.  Such,  I  should  apprehend,  would  be 
the  case  with  this  stallion,  and  further,  that  like  his  sire  he  would  breed 
shorter  in  his  produce  than  in  his  own  measure.  That  he  will  be  very 
positive  in  his  Messenger  caste  can  not  be  doubted,  and  his  success 
will  be  greatest  where  he  can  find  crosses  that  afford  opposite  qualities 
from  his  own. 

He  is  a  strongly  in-bred  stallion,  and  should  excel  in  Duroc,  St. 
Lawrence  and  other  Canadian  crosses,  and  also  with  the  daughters  of 
Sayer's  Harry  Clay.  He  and  Knickerbocker  would  find  in  Kentucky 
the  class  of  mares  in  abundance  best  suited  to  their  composition. 
The  Duroc- Messenger  or  Mambrino  and  Pilot  mares  will  call  out  their 
■chief  excellences. 

This  stallion  took  a  high  rank  with  his  produce  at  a  recent  State  fair 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  his  rich  strains  of  the  blood  of  Messen- 
ger will  make  him  very  attractive.  If,  however,  the  superiority  of 
our  trotters  of  Hambletonian  blood  depends  upon  the  proper  balance 
•or  equipoise  between  the  respective  blood  forces  that  unite  in  them, 
then  the  weight  is  too  heavy  in  the  Messenger  scale,  and  his  success 
will  depend  on  the  quality  of  the  outcrosses  with  which  he  is  mated. 

IDOL    AND    ELECTIONEEK. 

Idol  is  a  bay  stallion  15  hands  2^  inches  in  height,  with  white 
near  front  heel  and  white  hind  ankles;  foaled  in  1864 — bred  by  Gabriel 
l^Vood,  of  Orange  county.  New  York — by  Hambletonian.     First  dam 


308  CLAY   HAMBLETONIANS. 

Hattic  Wood  (dain  of  Gazelle),  by  Saver's  Haiiy  Clay  ;  seconci  dam 
Grand  mother,  by  Terror,  son  of  Eclipse,  by  Long's  Eclipse;  third 
dam  Jennett,  by  Cock  of  the  Rock — he  by  Duroc — dam  Roni])  by 
imp.  Messenger. 

This  is  the  later  pedigree  given  by  the  owner  of  this  stallion  upon 
what  is  regarded  satisfactory  authority.  He  is  owned  by  Charles 
Backman,  Stony  Ford,  Orange  county,  N.  Y. 

Electioneer  is  a  bay  stallion,  15  hands  2^  inches  in  height,  with 
white  hind  ankles — foaled  1868,  by  Hambletonian.  Dam  Green 
Mountain  Maid  (dam  of  Prospero,  Dame  Trot,  Miranda,  etc.),  by 
Sayer's  Harry  Clay.  He  was  bred  by  Charles  Backman,  of  Stony 
Ford,  and  is  now  owned  by  Gov.  Leland  Stanford,  of  Sacramento, 
California. 

"  Hark  Comstock,"  a  well  known  contributor  to  the  turf  journals, 
thus  describes  Idol : 

Idol  is  a  handsome,  smoothly  made  horse  of  fine  finish.  He  is  in  action  " 
what  is  called  big-gaited,  and  his  stroke  pure  and  even,  going  well  apart 
behind  and  possessing  none  of  the  shuftling  action  irequently  shown  by  his 
full  sister.  Gazelle,  at  half  speed.  In  his  four-year-old  form  he  received  a 
short  course  of  handling  at  Carl  Burr's,  and  showed  extra  promise  of  speed, 
but  it  became  necessary  to  interrupt  his  training  and  return  him  to  the  stud 
to  fill  the  gap  caused  by  the  sickness  of  old  Hambletonian,  to  whom  the  Stony 
Ford  mares  were  heavily  booked.  He  has  since  remained  in  the  stud,  and  is,^ 
therefore,  undeveloped.  The  get  of  Idol  evidently  require  more  age  to  deter- 
mine their  value  for  trotting  purposes  than  those  of  Messenger  Duroc.  They 
possess  wiry,  enduring  qualities  that  promise  to  enable  them  to  undergo  the 
severe  preparation  necessary  to  develop  the  best  rates  of  speed  and  staying 
qualities.  , 

The  same  writer  in  the  same  sketch  thus  speaks  of  Electioneer : 

Electioneer  possesses  a  powerfully  knit  frame,  well  harnessed  with  muscle. 
His  head  and  neck  are  plain,  shoulders  powerful  and  well  thrown  back,  withers 
broad  and  rather  low,  back  short,  loin  fall  and  well  braced  with  fillets  of 
muscle  reaching  back  into  his  powerful  quarters,  below  which  his  propelling 
points  are  powerfully  defined.  He  is  deep  through  the  heart,  with  well  sprung 
ribs  and  good  in  the  flank  as  well.  His  limbs  are  of  the  clean,  hard,  wiry  sort^ 
and  are  well  supported  by  excellent  feet.  He  is  a  horse  of  great  speed,  which 
has  been  entirely  developed  at  Stony  Ford.  His  gait  is  long  and  low,  and 
carries  him  with  the  least  possible  apparent  expenditure  of  force.  He  never 
appeared  in  a  race. 

Imay  say  further,  that  Electioneer  and  Idol  both  show  the  extra 
cross  of  Bellfounder  blood  derived  through  their  dams,  the  daughters 
of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay.     Electioneer  is  40  inches  in  length  in  the  line 


TWO   GOOD   MARES.  300 

from  the  centre  of  the  hip  to  the  outer  edge  of  tl:i8  hock,  and  is  24 
inches  in  the  length  of  his  thigh.  His  weight  is  given  at  1,000 
pounds,  and  is  perhaps  1,050.  I  have  not  the  measurements  of  Idol; 
but  have  seen  him,  and  suppose  he  is  substantially  like  Electioneer. 
There  is  probably  no  difference  in  the  length  of  the  two  horses, 
although  Electioneer  has  a  very  short  back,  his  shoulder-blades  ex- 
tending far  back  and  coupling  forward — he  has  the  appearance  of  a 
short  horse.  They  do  not  differ  materially  in  appearance — Idol  hav- 
ing the  appearance  of  a  horse  of  very  even  and  smooth  outline — each 
of  them  showing  high  breeding,  and  the  highest  type  in  matter  of 
quality  to  be  found  in  the  Hambletonian  family.  The  two  mares  that 
respectively  produced  these  two  stallions  are  two  of  the  best  daugh- 
ters of  Harry  Clay,  and  two  of  the  best  mares  to  be  found  anywhere- 
Hattie  Wood,  the  dam  of  Idol,  produced  his  full  sister,  Gazelle — 
2:22 — the  second  in  speed  of  the  daughters  of  Hambletonian.  She 
is  also  the  dam  of  Louis  Napoleon,  the  very  promising  son  of  Volun- 
teer. She  has  also  produced  another  son,  Victor  Bismarck,  by  Ham- 
bletonian, full  brother  to  Idol  and  Gazelle. 

Green  Mountain  Maid  has  given  reputation  to  Messenger  Duroc  in 
her  son  Prospero — 2:20 — and  her  daughters  Dame  Trot,  Miranda  and 
Elaine — 2:28 — at  three  years  old,  and  is  regarded  in  breeding  circles 
as  a  mare  without  a  superior  anywhere.  Hambletonian  has  not  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  a  fast  trotter  from  mares  of  Bellfounder  blood 
in  more  than  two  instances,  and  one  of  these  was  the  mare  Gazelle- 
sister  to  Idol — and  if  the  pedigree  is  correct,  her  dam  was  a  mare 
strong  in  Duroc  blood,  the  very  element  that  would  float  the  Bell- 
founder  and  render  it  available,  as  already  shown.  The  grandam  of 
Gazelle  was  by  Terror,  by  son  of  Long's  Eclipse,  he  by  American 
Eclipse,  son  of  Duroc;  and  the  next  dam  by  Cock  of  the  Rock,  a  son 
of  Duroc.  No  better  antecedent  for  the  Bellfounder  cross  could  be 
found,  as  I  have  already  shown  in  Chapters  IX  and  X.  Hence  the 
success  of  Gazelle  is  easily  accounted  for,  without  regarding  her  as 
exceptional  to  the  rule  that  her  sire  was  a  failure  with  Bellfounder 
mares. 

It  can  not  be  said  that  the  success  of  Idol  as  a  stallion  has 
been  equal  to  the  expectations  of  his  early  friends.  I  have  seen  his 
produce,  but  have  not  been  prepossessed  with  them.  He  does  not 
adhere  tenaciously  to  the  matter  of  color,  as  might  be  expected  from 
a  double  cross  of  Bellfounder.  He  often  breeds  chestnuts.  Thus  far 
in  the  matter  of  trotting  quality,  he  can  not  be  said  to  have  shown 


810  .         CLAY   IIAMBLETONIANS. 

that  he  was  a  sire  of  powerful  impressivencss.  Electioneer  can  not 
be  estimated  by  any  produce  he  has  left,  as  I  am  not  aware  that  he 
has  yet  produced  anything  that  would  indicate  his  character  as  a  sire. 
Of  each  of  these  stallions  the  record  may  perhaps  be  made  up  as  it 
has  with  Saver's  Harry  Clay.  They  may  not  shine  as  brilliant  stars, 
and  the  world  may  not  regard  them  ^s  having  great  or  valuable  qual- 
ities, until  they  shall  have  reached  the  age  of  twenty  years,  and  it 
shall  be  discovered  in  the  excellence  of  their  daughters  that  the  blood 
of  the  Norfolk  trotter  in  them  comes  out  with  a  new  radiance  and 
increased  lustre.  As  breeding  sires  they  will  be  most  likely  to  show 
some  degree  of  similarity  toward  Harry  Clay.  If  they  fulfill  their 
mission  with  the  same  degree  of  success,  the  breeders  of  this  country 
may  have  occasion  to  profit  by  their  having  lived. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

.HA  MBLETONIANS  — IN-BRED  ABDALLAHS. 

LAKELAND    ABDALLAH. 

In  my  first  chapter,  while  treating  of  the  subject  of  in-breeding,  I 
expressed  the  opinion  that,  in  general,  no  half-brothers  and  sisters 
should  be  mated — that  no  daughter  of  Abdallah  should  be  sent  to 
Hambletonian. 

The  real  excellence  of  the  two  stallions  for  our  immediate  consid- 
eration, will  be  almost  taken  as  sufficient  to  controvert  the  correctness 
of  the  position  there  assumed.  Their  superiority  as  individuals  and  as 
sires  must  be  admitted,  while  at  the  same  time  it  does  not  clearly  ap- 
pear but  that  they  would  have  each  been  greater  and  more  successful 
stallions  had  they  been  one  remove  further  from  Abdallah,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  third  stallion,  to  be  considered  in  this  chapter.  Besides 
this,  the  first  two  stallions  have  in  the  blood  of  their  dams  a  combi- 
nation of  the  precise  elements  already  indicated  in  this  work,  as  the 
best  yet  discovered  to  unite  with,  mould  and  control  the  Abdallah 
blood,  in  the  composition  of  our  American  roadster — the  blood  of 
Bellfounder  in  one  and  that  of  Duroc  in  the  other — and  the  greatness 
of  the  third  named  stallion  lies  in  the  two-fold  fact  that  the  blood  of 
Abdallah  was  distant  the  one  proper  remove,  and  in  union  with  the 
blood  of  Duroc  in  the  best  form  that  could  have  been  selected.  Each 
of  the  three  affords  a  subject  worthy  of  our  careful  study. 

Lakeland  Abdallah  was  foaled  in  1865,  and  was  by  Hamble- 
tonian; first  dam  Enchantress,  by  Abdallah;  second  dam  by  imp. 
Bellfounder,  as  given,  although  this  latter  part  of  the  i)edigree  has 
of  late  been  questioned  on  grounds  that  do  not  appear  to  me 
admissible.  This  horse  was  bred  by  Mr.  Charles  S.  Dole,  of  Chicago. 
Having  reached  a  certain  conclusion  with  regard  to  the  lines  of  blood 
he  wanted  in  a  stallion,  he  set  out  to  breed  one. 

(311) 


312  HAMBLETONIANS  —  IN-BRED    ABDALLAIIS. 

He  gives  the  account  clearly,  and  I  adopt  the  following-  in  his  ov/n 
words: 

Recognizing,  as  early  as  1860,  the  pre-eminent  merits  of  Old  Abdallah  as- 
a  progenitor  of  fast,  stout  and  endnring  trotters,  I  set  about  to  tind  one  of  his 
descendants  combining  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  his  blood,  together 
with  the  highest  order  of  individual  excellence,  to  use  in  the  stud ;  but  failing^ 
to  find  a  stallion  that,  in  every  particular,  conformed  to  my  ideal,  I  abandoned 
the  search  in  that  direction,  and  began  to  look  for  a  daughter  of  Abdallah^ 
from  which  to  breed  my  ideal  stallion.  After  a  long  search,  I  found  a  mare 
that  had  formerly  done  duty  in  a  livery  stable  in  New  York  City,  that  seemed 
to  "  fill  the  bill "  exactly.  She  was  a  brown,  with  some  white  hairs  around 
the  root  of  the  tail,  which  she  carried  very  high ;  had  a  very  fine  head ;  sharp,, 
pointed  ear ;  an  expressive,  prominent,  hazel  eye ;  was  deep  in  the  chest ;  had 
great  length  of  body  in  proportion  to  her  height,  and  was  noted  for  her  great 
qualities  as  a  fast,  stout,  game  and  speedy  roadster. 

I  was  satisfied  at  the  time,  from  my  own  investigations,  that  the  breeding 
of  the  mare  was  precisely  in  accordance  with  the  certificate  which  I  received 
with  the  bill  of  sale,  which  was  as  follows : 

[bill  omitted.] 

Pedigkee. — Enchantress,  by  Abdallah,  he  by  Mambrino,  he  by  imp.  Mes- 
senger. Dam  of  Enchantress  by  imp.  Bellfounder.  Enchantress^ 
was  bred  by  Mr.  Blakesley,  of  Orange  conntv,  N.  Y. 

J.  W.  Wilson. 

I  then  sent  the  mare  Enchantress  to  Chester,  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  to  be 

bred  to  Rysdyk's  Hambletonian ;  and,  in  order  to  "  make  assurance  doubly 

sure  "  as  to  her  breeding,  I  especially  urged  Mr.  Rysdyk  to  make  a  thorough 

Investigation  as  to  her  pedigree.     This  he  assured  me  he  would  do ;   and,  when 

the  mare  was  finally  taken  away  from  his  place,  having  the  colt  Harold,  now 

owned  by  A.  J.  Alexander,  of  Kentucky,  by  her  side,  and  being  again  in  foal 

by  Hambletonian,  the  produce  being  Lakeland  Abdallah,  Mr.  Rysdyk  sent  me 

the  following  certificate: 

Chester,  Nov.  22, 18G4. 
Pedigree  of  a  bay  colt,  Avithout  any  white,  foaled  September  14,  18(34,  bred 
by  Charles  S.  Dole,  sired  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Old  Abdallah,  grandam 
by  imported  Bellfounder.  *  The  above  mare  was  served  again,  by  Hamble- 
tonian, September  23,  18U4.    The  above  pedigree  T  believe  to  be  correct. 

Wm.  M.  Rysdyk, 

Chester,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Some  twelve  years  after  this,  and  wIkmi  JNIi'.  Blakesley,  the  breeder 
of  Enchantress,  was  dead,  an  effort  was  made,  at  the  instance  of  Mr. 
Dole,  to  trace  the  pedigree,  and  nobody  could  be  found  to  verify  the 
Bellfounder  cross.  I  have  examined  the  statements  made  in  regard 
to  the  matter,  and  do  not  feel  warranted  in  overturning  the  stateuients 
and  belief  of  those  who  knew  the  facts  at  an  earlier  day. 

Lakeland  Abdallah  is  a  bright,  clear  or  solid  bay  stallion,  15  hands 
2  inches  high,  and  weighs  1,075  to   1,100  lbs.     He  is  evenly  formed. 


i^.m»»'KiL'aj!i:ift'.x:i>w»'<"-»w»iMi:i! 


LAKELAND    ABDALLAH.  313 

has  a  finely  shaped  head — bony  and  lean,  but  well  shaped — very  little 
of  the  Abdallah  or  Roman  form,  none  of  the  thinness  of  front  profile 
often  seen  in  the  family,  wide  between  the  eyes,  and  high  in  the  apex 
or  poll,  with  a  long,  clean  and  sharp  ear — a  perfect  Abdallah  ear;  a 
full  eye,  that  seems  never  to  sleep  or  grow  dim;  an  even  and  well 
formed  neck,  not  so  short  as  that  of  his  sire;  a  compact,  full  breast  and 
shoulder,  rising  to  withers  of  fair  but  not  great  elevation;  a  round 
barrel — regular  Bellfounder  body;  round  and  full  at  the  hips,  over  the 
croup  and  in  the  hindquarter,  close  and  compactly  built,  with  the 
thigh  or  gaskin  stout  and  full  down  to  a  hock  that  is  perfection;  feet 
and  legs  of  the  most  superb  kind;  a  nice  mane;  a  tail  not  very  heavy, 
and  getting  rather  light  close  to  the  dock,  but  not  much  lacking  yet; 
and  in  the  whole  outline,  a  horse  of  as  fine  form  as  can  anywhere  be 
found — as  compact  as  if  he  had  been  cast  of  molten  lead. 

But  all  this  outline  gives  no  idea  of  the  high  quality,  lofty  spirit 
and  nerve  organism  of  intense  and  positive  character  which  he 
displays  in  the  box  or  outside.  He  displays  a  brain  power,  that 
to  the  most  casual  observer  is  immense.  No  animal  can  anywhere 
be  found  that  outwardly  shows  evidence  of  a  brain  and  nerve 
power  of  more  intensity  or  greater  compass  and  power.  He  is 
in  every  lineament  and  feature,  a  Messenger  of  the  Messengers,  and 
an  Abdallah  everywhere.  He  who  would  govern  this  horse,  must  do 
it  with  intelligence  and  kindness,  for  if  it  should  come  to  a  question 
of  mastery  by  brute  force  and  power  of  will,  the  horse  would  most 
likely  be  the  superior.  Nowhere  can  a  better  illustration  of  the  high 
nervous  organization  and  proud  spirit  of  old  Messenger  or  of  Abdallah 
be  found  than  in  this  horse.  He  is  withal  a  horse  of  a  kindly  disposition, 
and  fond  of  the  caresses  of  his  acquaintances — but  a  little  as  Bush 
Messenger  was  to  those  who  succeeded  his  early  master,  whom  he 
would  follow  as  a  dog  follows  the  hand  that  feeds  and  pets  him. 
Bush  Messenger,  in  his  advanced  years,  was  regarded  in  the  light  of  a 
man-eater,  even  by  those  who  had  charge  of  him.  Upon  one  occasion, 
the  veteran  turfman  from  whom  he  took  his  name,  visited  the  place, 
and  went  into  the  lot  where  the  old  horse  was  grazing,  in  spite  of  the 
warnings  of  an  old  lady,  who  declared  he  wovild  be  eaten  up;  but 
when  the  old  stallion  heard  the  sharp  whistle  that  awakened  memories 
of  by-gone  years,  he  came  charging  over  the  lot  with  nostrils  wide 
extended,  the  most  perfect  picture  of  intense  excitement,  until  he 
beheld  his  old  master,  and  going  up  to  him  was  ready  almost  to  lie 
down  at  his  feet  from  very  joy;  receiving  his  kindly  caresses,  he  fol- 


314  HAMBLETONIANS  —  IN-BRED   ABDALLAHS. 

lowed  him  all  over  the  lot,  to  the  wonder  and  astonishment  of  the 
people  at  the  house,  who  did  not  understand  the  secret  tie  that  bound 
the  old  horse  to  this  grey-haired  man,  whom  they  expected  to  see  so 
speedily  devoured.  Lakeland  Abdallah  has  some  of  the  same  char- 
acter, and  he  brooks  no  familiarity  from  strangers,  but  is  kind  and 
docile  to  those  with  whom  he  is  well  acquainted. 

The  form  of  this  stallion  indicates  much  of  the  Messenaror — he 
shows  Messenger  in  his  solidity,  his  compactness,  his  perfection  of 
limb,  and  superior  muscular  organism,  his  high  and  lofty  spirit,  and 
intense  nerve  organization;  but  he  shows  little  of  the  eccentricities  of 
form  that  marked  Abdallah.  He  shows  the  long  sharp  ears,  but  that  is 
about  all.  His  form  is  not  of  the  flat  sided  or  cat-hammed  kind,  that 
distinguished  Abdallah,  and  he  has  none  of  the  light  shades  of  color 
that  come  out  in  the  strong  Abdallahs.  The  Bellfounder  in  color  and 
form  is  apparent  in  him  in  every  point,  except  the  ear.  He  has  all  of 
the  rotundity  and  massive  parts  of  Bellfounder.  His  breast,  shoulder, 
barrel,  loin — a  superb  one — hip  and  quarters,  are  all  Bellfounder,  and 
there  is  hardly  a  strong  Abdallah  feature  about  him,  except  his  long, 
sharp  ears  and  rather  light  tail.  The  internal  evidences  of  his  grandam 
being  by  Bellfounder  are  very  strong,  and  with  the  straight  forward 
and  authentic  history  of  the  dam  and  grandam,  as  givfen  by  those 
■who  knew  the  animals  in  their  own  day  and  generation,  are  very  hard 
to  overturn,  and  should  not  be  doubted  at  this  distant  period,  except 
upon  contrary  proofs  of  more  than  a  merely  negative  character. 

His  appearance  is  that  of  a  horse  that  carries  with  him  a  concentra- 
tion of  the  particular  qualities  by  which  he  is  distinguished.  There 
is  nothing  heterogeneous  in  his  composition. 

Any  one  familiar  with  the  qualities  of  the  Bellfounder  and  the 
Messenger  horse  will  find  in  him  an  instance  of  the  highest  concen- 
tration of  these  qualities — close  to  the  original.  I  think  the  exception 
to  be  taken  to  the  animal  is  in  the  fact  that  he.  is  so  close  to  the 
original.  His  close  in-breeding  is  apparent,  and  undoubtedly  it  is 
somewhat  against  him,  although  it  will  certainly  intensify  his  power 
and  quality  as  a  sire.  The  perfection  of  these  elements  which  he 
embodies  in  such  concentrated  form  will  come  out  in  breeding,  with 
great  power  and  positiveness. 

I  think  I  have  already  shown  in  previous  chapters  that  the  blood  of 
Messenger  and  of  Bellfounder  had  proved  most  available  when  it  had 
passed  through  certain  degrees  of  removal  from  the  original.  And 
herein  lies  the  force  of  the  only  exception  that  can  be  taken  to  Lake- 


A   POPULAR  SIRE.  315 

land  Abdallah.  He  is  too  close  to  the  original,  both  in  the  Messen- 
ger and  the  Bellfounder.  His  own  descendants  will  let  out  in  high 
degree  the  excellences  that  are  shut  up  in  his  close  in-breeding.  As  a 
sire  he  is  a  good  horse,  as  is  known  to  all  who  have  ever  seen  one  of' 
his  colts.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  almost  any  horse  can  produce  a 
poor  colt,  but  I  have  never  heard  of  a  colt  of  this  horse  that  was  not 
prized  as  a  good  one.  I  have  known  his  produce  ever  since  the  first 
year's  foals,  and  I  have  never  heard  a  man  express  an  exception  to  one 
of  them. 

Having  owned  several  of  them  and  having  seen  very  many,  and 
knowing  the  owners  of  perhaps  the  majority  of  his  produce,  I  can 
only  call  to  mind  the  universally  high  appreciation  in  which  they  are 
held.  They  are  large,  of  good  colors,  high  in  form,  perfect  in  health, 
and  in  many  cases  show  very  superior  trotting  qualities.  While  I 
can  not  speak  from  the  record  of  any  that  have  been  trained,  I  can 
say  that  in  the  Northwest  no  family  of  horses  will  command  the 
prices  that  can  be  realized  on  the  produce  of  Lakeland  Abdallah.  I 
know  but  little  of  his  sons,  and  am  of  the  impression  that  they  are  not 
as  numerous  as  his  daughters,  but  wherever  there  is  one  of  the  latter 
the  owner  holds  her  for  road  or  breeding  purposes,  conceiving  her  to 
be  unequaled  for  such  use.  Several  have  been  driven  and  some  have 
trotted  in  races,  but  the  highest  estimate  seems  to  be  placed  on  them 
for  road  and  breeding  purposes,  and  a  mare  by  Lakeland  Abdallah  is 
regarded  as  no  ordinary  breeding  stock.  His  stock,  so  far  as  I  have 
any  personal  acquaintance  with  them,  have  not  shown  the  decided 
leaning  toward  the  Abdallah  model,  which  would  have  been  dis- 
played had  the  extra  Bellfounder  cross  been  lacking.  The  even 
balance  between  the  two  bloods  seems  to  have  been  maintained  vpith 
great  uniformity. 

The  history  of  this  horse  has  been  like  that  of  many  others. 
His  owner  did  not  esteem  him  as  highly  as  a  four  and  five-year-old 
as  he  did  after  he  had  sold  him,  and  his  first  and  second  year's 
produce  came  to  the  age  of  two  and  three  years.  They  established 
his  value,  and  there  was  just  a  sufficient  number  of  them  scat- 
tered about  to  make  the  sentiment  almost  universal  in  the  West  that 
he  was  a  golden  sire.  He  was  repurchased  at  a  price  about  six  times 
the  sum  realized  for  him  a  short  period  before. 

His  owner  and  breeder  is  a  man  of  the  rarest  enthusiasm  in  horse 
breeding.  With  him  no  pursuit  ranks  so  high  or  is  regarded  so 
ennobling,  and  he  pursues  it  in  its  loftiest   heights.      Ho  has  the 


316  HAMBLETONIANS  —  IN-BRED   ABDALLAHS. 

Tiieans,  and  when  his  mind  fastens  on  a  line  of  breeding  that  is 
anchored  deep  in  rich  blood,  he  goes  for  it,  regardless  of  the  cost. 
His  perception  of  the  excellences  of  a  strain  of  blood  are  quick; 
his  ideas  are  clear,  and  his  enthusiasm  in  pursuing  that  line  is 
unbounded.  Such  was  the  impulsive  nature  that  gave  us  this 
borse.  With  his  mind  clearly  set  on  the  type  or  character  of  the 
horse  he  desired,  he  stopped  not  until  he  found  the  mare  he 
wanted,  eight  hundred  miles  from  his  home  and  business,  and  he 
adhered  to  the  line  marked  out  until  he  had  tAvo  stallions,  fnll 
l)rothers.  Harold,  the  very  popular  stallion  now  owned  at  Woodburn 
Farm,  by  Mr.  Alexander,  is  one;  Lakeland  Abdallah  is  the  other- 
Harold  shows  more  of  the  in-breeding  and  more  of  the  Bellfounder 
than  Lakeland.  He  is  not  so  large,  but  breeds  very  many  equal  in 
size  to  the  largest  stallions  in  Kentncky.  His  strong  and  close  con- 
centration of  the  blood  of  the  two  great  families  of  Bellfounder  and 
Abdallah,  as  found  in  Hambletonian,  make  him  a  popular  horse. 

HIS   SONS. 

Lakeland  Abdallah  has  one  son,  named  Scott — foaled  in  1870.  His 
daiu  was  by  Mambrino  Pilot  ;  second  dam  by  Herr's  Boston,  son  of 
Boston,  and  his  third  dam  by  Bertrand.  He  is  a  large  horse,  very 
oompact  and  muscular — a  dark  bay;  and  when  I  saw  him  as  a  four- 
year-old,  he  was  a  horse  of  very  superior  trotting  action,  and  was 
regarded  as  a  young  trotting  stallion  that  combined  elements  of  great 
value.     He  certainly  will  make  a  trotter  and  a  reproducer. 

Another  son,  owned  by  Hon.  A.  M.  Herrington,  of  Geneva,  111.,  is 
now  three  years  old,  that  is  a  colt  of  the  highest  degree  of  quality. 
His  dam  is  "Wild  Jane,  by  Little  Cassius;  second  dam  Flight  by 
Seely's  American  Star,  and  third  dam  said  to  be  by  Nigger  Lance,  son  of 
Lance  by  American  Eclipse.  Little  Cassius,  by  old  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
from  Starlight  by  American  Star.  This  is  the  pedigree  given  for 
Jane,  and  supposed  to  be  correct.  The  colt  is  about  what  might  be 
expected  from  such  a  union  of  the  blood  of  Lakeland  Abdallah, 
Cassius  M.  Clay  and  American  Star.  His  trotting  action  and  his 
intense  nervous  organism  is  of  most  surpassing  character. 

He  has  another  three-year-old  son  named  Elysian  Abdallah.  First 
dam.  Roving  Nellie,  by  Strader's  Cassius  M.  Clay;  second  dam  by  Ber- 
thune;  third  dam  by  Rattler,  by  imp.  Spread  Eagle.  He  has  shown 
himself  already  as  a  fast  trotter,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
promising  young  trotting  stallions  in  the  Noi  thwest.  He  is  owned  by 
Messrs.  De  Grarte  of  Janesville,  Minnesota. 


THE  TEIrUKION.  317 


STEPHEX   A.    DOUGLAS. 


This  is  a  bay  stallion  foaled  in  1861 — was  by  Hambletonian.  First 
■dam  the  Beaks  mare  by  Abdallah ;  second  dam  by  Shakspeare  ; 
"third  dam  by  Young  Bashaw.  Shakspeare  was  by  Duroc,  dam  by 
Plato,  son  of  Messenger.  She  was  also  the  dam  of  Post  Boy,  son  of 
Duroc.  Young  Bashaw  was  by  imp.  Grand  Bashaw,  and  his  grandam 
was  the  daughter  of  Messenger,  which  has  given  the  trotting  char- 
acter and  renown  to  the  Bashaw  and  Clay  families. 

This  stallion  is  owned  by  H.  Swift  and  Son,  Foi-estville,  Chautauqua 
county,  N.  Y.  His  breeding  makes  him  a  valuable  stallion  in  the  last 
two  crosses  especially — one  of  the  best  anywhere  to  be  found.  His 
success  in  the  stud  has  been  equal  to  his  excellence  in  blood. 

From  the  first  crosses  in  the  composition  of  this  horse  much  of  his 
-character  is  apparent  from  what  has  been  said  of  Jjakeland  Abdallah, 
-although  he  probably  shows  more  of  the  Abdallah.  The  Duroc- 
Messenger  mare  which  was  his  grandam  would  not  stand  in  the  way 
or  impede  the  full  force  of  the  Abdallah  blood  as  did  the  grandam  of 
Lakeland  Abdallah.  It  would  yield  it  more  of  the  true  Abdallah  and 
Messenger  character  and  still  exercise  sufficient  influence  to  affect  the 
outward  manifestations  of  trotting  quality  in  the  horse.  No  better 
soil  could  anywhere  be  found  for  the  growth  and  full  development  of 
an  Abdallah  trotting  sire  than  that  furnished  by  a  Duroc-Messenger 
mare  just  such  as  the  grandam  of  this  stallion.  It  is  with  me  a  most 
profound  conviction  that  if  Abdallah  from  such  a  mare  as  this  grandam 
— she  being  a  first-class  mare  aside  from  her  blood  composition — -had 
produced  a  son,  we  should  have  seen  a  stallion  that  surpassed  the 
greatest  and  best  horse  we  have  yet  produced. 

The  Duroc-Messenger  composite  was  such  as  would  develop  to  a 
perfect  growth  all  the  highest  qualities  of  the  great  trotting  combi- 
nation. This  grandam,  in  point  of  blood  constituents,  was  really  one 
•of  great  superiority.  No  better  could  have  been  found  anywhere. 
From  her,  Hambletonian  would  have  produced  a  great  stallion ;  from 
her  daughter,  the  Beaks  mare,  he  would  pi'oduce  one  that  would 
doubtless  be  a  good  one,  but  with  a  concentration  of  Abdallah  that 
would  stamp  his  characteristic  points  very  powerfully  on  the  horse 
produced. 

He  is  no  doubt  a  good  Hambletonian — but  more  certainly  a  strong 
Abdallah.  He  will,  doubtless,  show  great  positiveness  in  his  breeding 
qualities.  His  produce  will  be  strong  in  their  Messenger  character, 
Jbut  while  the  Bellfounder  traits  will  appear  diminished  they  will  not 


318  HAMBLETONIANS  —  IN-BRED   ABDALLAIIS. 

be  wholly  effaced,  and  when  opportunity  is  offered  in  suitable  combi- 
nations the  genius  and  spirit  of  Bellfounder  will  come  out  in  spite 
of  the  odds  against  it. 

By  the  writers  and  breeders  of  this  day  his  success  as  a  stallion 
will  be  ascribed  to  his  concentration  of  the  blood  of  Abdallah,  which 
is  not  correct. 

This  concentration  of  Messenger  and  Abdallah  blood  of  itself 
would  have  been  against  his  success.  He  is  a  successful  stallion  in 
spite  of  that  very  concentration;  but  his  success  is  due  to  the  ag'ency 
of  the  Duroc  blood,  which  has  served  as  the  intermediate — which 
caused  the  other  two  great  bloods  to  fuse  in  harmony,  and  to  each 
yield  their  excellences  in  the  union  which  the  three  compose.  Had 
just  such  a  cross  as  this  Shakspeare,  or  any  other  good  Duroc- Messen- 
ger cross  (not  an  immediate  Duroc  cross,  remember),  but  just  such 
as  this — intervened  between  the  Charles  Kent  mare  and  her  own  Mes- 
senger dam,  then  would  Abdallah  have  found  a  field  from  which  to 
raise  a  son  with  no  alloy,  no  bars  of  impediment,  and  Hambletonian 
would  have  shown  that  quality  of  universal  impressiveness  which  he 
notably  lacked,  and  which  distinguishes  Messenger  Duroc,  Adminis- 
trator, Almont,  Florida  and  Mambrino  Chief  far  above  himself. 
Duroc,  I  repeat,  was  not  a  trotter  and  got  no  trotters,  but  as  a  factor 
in  the  American  trotting  horse  the  value  of  the  Duroc-Messenger 
union  can  not  be  estimated. 

I  have  no  reports  or  information  relative  to  the  success  of  thia 
stallion,  in  his  own  immediate  vicinity  or  elsewhere,  save  that  found 
in  the  record  of  2:30  trotters  on  the  public  courses.  He  is  sire  of  Idol,, 
a  bay  mare  with  a  record  of  2:23,  and  14  heats  in  2:30  or  better; 
Versailles  Girl,  bay  mare,  record  of  2:25^  and  4  heats,  and  Weston, 
2:30.  His  record  thus  far  encourages  the  belief  that  he  will  stand 
as  one  of  the  best  and  most  successful  sons  of  Hambletonian. 

LTSANDER. 

This  stallion  is  entered  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Trotting  Jiegister 
simply  as  a  horse;  neither  his  age,  color,  nanae  of  his  breeder  or 
owner,  is  given.  I  suppose  his  owner  and  breeder  did  not  think  he 
possessed  any  or  sufficient  value  to  justify  inserting  the  above  partic- 
ulars, for  the  price  that  covered  the  bare  mention  of  his  name  would 
have  satisfied  the  entire  bill.  The  fault  was  not  with  the  very  careful 
compiler,  but  with  the  owner.  One  thing  of  value,  however,  is  stated, 
namely,  that  his  dam  was  by  Abdallah  Chief;  and,  while  it  is  not 


LYSANDER.  319 

stated  that  the  sire  of  such  dam  was  Roe's  Abdallah  Chief,  I  will 
hope  and  even  assume  that  such  was  the  case,  as  this  would  give  me 
a  mare  to  my  liking,  as  the  dam  of  a  good  sire  from  Hambletonian. 
The  blood  of  Abdallah  is  presented  in  the  exact  form  in  which  I 
should  prescribe  it,  namely,  in  the  Duroc-Messenger  compound — the 
dam  of  Abdallah  Chief  being  by  Phillips,  he  by  Duroc,  and  his  dam 
by  Messenger,  the  second  dam  of  Abdallah  Chief  being  further  by 
Decatur,  and  his  dam  by  American  Eclipse,  son  of  Duroc,  dam  by 
Messenger — and  if  there  was  some  more  Messenger  and  not  much 
Duroc  in  the  background,  still  better;  but  accepting  it  as  it  is,  or 
rather  as  I  suppose  it  to  be,  this  stallion  asserts  a  value  which  his 
breeder  and  owner  did  not  attribute  to  him  in  having  produced  the 
trotter  Lysander  Boy,  that  in  a  single  season  came  before  the  public 
Unheralded  and  unannounced,  and  trotted  16  heats  in  2:30  or  better, 
and  marked  a  record  of  2:23 — all  in  his  first  year — and  as  his  record 
is  a  good  one  and  the  breeding  of  his  sire  suits  me,  I  will  forgive  his 
owner  and  breeder  the  oversight  displayed  in  not  placing  hiTn  prop- 
erly before  the  public. 

The  lesson  drawn  from  the  success  of  these  stallions  will  be  of 
value  in  our  several  breeding  plans  of  the  future. 


OHAPTEE  XY. 

OTHER  HAMBLETONIANS. 

CUTIiEE. 

Amots"G  the  oilier  sons  of  Hambletonian  entitled  to  consideration, 
the  stallion  Cuyler,  owned  by  Messrs.  J.  C.  McFerran  &  Son,  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  may  be  named  as  a  horse  occupying  a  prominent  position. 

He  was  foaled  1868,  and  was  bred  by  Charles  Backman,  Stony  Ford» 
Orange  county,  N.  Y.  He  is  a  rich  bay  stallion,  fifteen  hands  three 
inches  high;  weighs,  in  fair  condition,  1,120  lbs.;  has  a  near  hind  ankle 
white,  a  star  in  the  forehead,  and  a  few  white  hairs  in  the  flank.  He 
is  very  kind  and  docile,  and  from  head  to  foot  is  a  finely  formed 
animal,  very  evenly  and  smoothly  built. 

His  form  for  beauty  and  symmetry  is  not  surpassed  by  any  son  of 
Hambletonian.  He  is  a  very  lengthy  appearing  horse.  In  his  front 
leverage  he  is  11^  for  the  front  cannon  and-  21^  for  the  forearm;  his 
rear  leverage  is  39^  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  and  23;^  in  length  of 
thigh. 

His  gait  is  a  very  fine  one.  He  does  not  spread  his  hind  feet  wide 
apart,  but  lifts  his  hocks  close  to  his  body  and  in  true  line.  His  front 
leg  action  is  also  even,  and  with  a  rounding  or  rolling  motion  of  the 
front  feet,  lifting  his  knees  moderately  and  bending  them,  but  not 
striking  the  ground  hard.  All  the  horses  descending  from  the  Harris 
Hambletonian  stock  have  a  similar  gait. 

The  stallion  Joe  Brown  displays  a  gait  very  much  like  that  of 
Cuyler.  I  observe  the  owners  of  Cuyler,  like  many  others,  seem  to 
think  the  excellence  of  their  horse  consists  in  large  part  in  the  num- 
ber of  strains  of  the  blood  of  Messenger  he  possesses.  The  real  ex- 
cellence of  this  stallion  lies  in  the  excellence  of  the  strains  of 
Messenger  blood  represented  in  him,  rather  than  in  their  number. 

The  dam  of  Cuyler  was  a  mare  named  Grey  Rose,  and  she  lived  to 

(320) 


o 

a 
r 

M 

53 


HARRIS'    HAMBLETONIATT.  321 

the  age  of  thirty-three  years.  She  was  by  Harris'  Harabletonian,  son 
of  Bishop's  Hambletonian,  the  son  of  Messenger  that  was  claimed  to 
be  thoroughbred,  and  was  at  first  named  Harailtonian.  His  dam 
was  a  grey  mare  of  unknown  blood,  and  since  the  superiority  of  the 
Messenger  family  became  so  universally  known,  and  especially  this 
branch  of  it,  attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  that  this  mare  was  a 
daughter  of  Messenger. 

Some  years  since,  a  very  intelligent  gentleman  in  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont, where  both  of  these  horses  spent  their  days  and  were  best 
known,  investigated  the  question  with  the  former  owners  and  keejier 
of  the  horse  and  gave  the  public  a  lengthy  statement,  from  which  I 
take  the  following: 

Harris'  Hambletonian  was  bred  by  Isaac  Munson,  of  Wallingford,  Vt.,  in 
1823.  Mr.  Munson  was  then  in  the  occupancy  of  a  farm  in  "Wallingford, 
owned  by  a  wealthy  brother  of  his,  residing  in  or  near  Boston,  Mass.  About  1814 
he  procured  and  sent  up  from  Massachusetts,  for  the  use  of  the  farm,  a  pair  of 
gray  mares.  The  season  of  1822  Bishop's  Hambletonian  was  standing  at  East 
Granville,  N.  Y.,  but  a  few  miles  distant  from  Wallingford.  Mr.  Mimson  bred 
both  mares  that  season  to  Bishop's  Hambletonian.  One  of  them  did  not  prove 
in  foal ;  the  other,  from  that  service,  became  the  dam  of  Harris'  Hambletonian. 
Mr.  Hiram  Eddy  then  and  previously  resided  in  Wallingford  with  his  father, 
within  three-fourths  of  a  mile  of  the  place  where  the  mare  was  kept,  and  often 
saw  her.  She  was  a  dapple  gray,  about  16  hands  high,  a  smooth  built,  trim 
limbed,  and  rather  stylish  mare.  She  was  a  good,  fair,  smart  traveler,  but  it 
was  never  claimed  or  intimated  that  she  was  a  fast  trotter,  or  very  extraordi- 
nary in  that  particular.  Nothing  was  said  at  the  time  about  her  breeding, 
except  that  she  was  called  an  English  mare,  by  which  was  meant  that  she 
possessed  some  share  of  thoroughbred  blood,  which  was  indicated  by  her  form 
and  appearance.  When  Harris'  Hambletonian  was  two  years  old,  Mr.  Mimson 
sold  him  to  Messrs.  George  Eddy,  Samuel  Edgerton,  and  Lincoln  Andrews,  all 
of  Wallingford,  by  whom  he  was  owned,  and  allowed  to  serve  mares  until  he 
was  five  years  old. 

They  then  sold  him  to  Samuel  Eddy,  of  Bristol,  Vt.,  and  his  father,  John 
Eddy,  kept  the  horse  for  some  years  at  New  Haven,  Vt.  When  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years  old,  Hiram  Eddy  (my  informant)  and  George  Eddy  bought  the 
horse,  and  for  two  years  stood  him  in  Wallingford,  Danby  and  Dorset. 
They  then  sold  him,  and  he  afterward  passed  into  the  hands  of  Joshua 
Remington,  of  Huntington,  Vt.  He  stood  him  in  Huntington  and  vicinity 
for  such  a  length  of  time  that  he  became  well  known,  and  was  commonly 
called  the  "  Remington  horse." 

He  subsequently  passed  into  the  hands  of  Russell  Harris,  of  New  Haven, 
Vt.,  by  whom  he  was  owned  and  kept  imtil  the  time  of  the  horse's  death, 
which  occurred  in  December,  1847.  Since  the  ownership  of  Mr.  Harris  he 
has  commonly  been  called  Harris'  Hambletonian.  Harris'  Hambletonian  was 
a  horse  of  great  substance,  fully  sixteen  hands  high,  of  the  same  color  as  his 


322  OTHER   IIAMBLETONIANS. 

dam,  a  dapple  gray,  and  as  he  grew  older  the  dapples  became  smaller,  and  he 
had  more  of  a  flea-bitten  appearance.  He  was  not  as  smooth  and  elegant  in 
form  as  his  dam,  but  was  more  bony  and  coarse  in  his  formation.  His  legs  were 
stout  and  large,  and  Mr.  Eddy  says  that  to  make  him  answer  as  well  as  possible 
the  demand  of  those  times,  they  found  it  expedient  to  keep  his  legs  closely 
trimmed,  to  give  them  a  lighter  and  more  delicate  appearance  than  with  their 
natural  covering  they  presented.  His  head  was  long,  slim  and  bony,  but  with 
good  width  between  the  eyes.  His  tail  and  mane  were  fair.  He  was  broken 
to  all  harness,  and  never  showed  indications  of  a  really  vicious  temper.  He 
was  not  often  hitched  up  in  carriages,  but,  as  was  then  more  the  custom,  was 
often  ridden. 

He  was  a  good,  square,  unmixed-gaited  trotter,  and  though  he  had  the  power 
and  speed  to  enable  him  in  a  common  hitch-up  to  go  75  miles  a  day  without 
distress,  he  was  not  boasted  of  as  a  fast  trotter,  and  may  never  have  made  a 
mile  much  quicker  than  four  minutes ;  though  Mr.  Eddy  thinks  that  with 
such  training  as  horses  suspected  of  extra  speed  receive  nowadays  he  might 
have  trotted  easily  in  three  minutes  or  better.  At  a  time  when  his  services  as  a 
stallion  would  have  been  of  the  most  value  to  the  country  they  were  in  mod- 
erate demand,  since  foals  were  insured  by  him  at  from  three  to  five  dollars. 
His  colts  did  not  fully  mature  until  seven  or  eight  years  old,  and  from  three 
to  six  years  old  were  bony,  rough,  and  rather  lathy.  On  the  common  feed  of 
farmers  they  looked  angular  and  carried  little  flesh.  Breeders  of  that  class 
then  greatly  preferred  to  raise  colts  of  a  more  pony  mould,  that  more  readily 
took  on  flesh  and  were  almost  mature  at  three  and  four  years  old.  When  the 
Hambletonian  was  fully  ready  for  business  he  would  sell  for  twice  as  much, 
and  came  at  length  to  be  well  known ;  but  when  not  needed  for  the  breeder 
for  any  kind  of  service,  a  considerable  expense  had  to  be  incurred  in  maturing 
him. 

Not  until  the  last  of  his  life  was  Harris'  Hambletonian  a  popular  stallion. 
Neither  the  form  nor  appearance  of  himself  or  his  get  indicated  that  he  was 
finely  or  highly  bred.  His  own  sire.  Bishop's  Hambletonian,  did  not  stand  so 
high  on  the  roll  of  fame  as  more  lately.  It  had  not  then  come  to  be  claimed 
or  supposed  that  all  trotting  excellence  was  to  be  found  in  the  descendants  of 
imp.  Messenger.  The  Morgans  were  then  in  the  height  of  their  popularity 
especially  in  Vermont,  and  Messenger  in  the  pedigree  of  stock  horses  was  not 
always  printed  in  glowing  capitals,  and  displayed  as  many  times  as  possible. 
An  astute  horseman,  here  and  there,  had  discovered  that  the  Hambletonian  colts, 
when  matured,  were  equaled  by  few,  if  any,  then  raised  here.  Among  them 
was  Mr.  Cotrill,  of  Moutpelier,  Vt.,  then  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful 
stage  proprietors  in  the  country — a  business  at  that  time  of  no  small  im- 
portance. He  is  reported  as  having  often  said  that  he  found  the  Hambleto- 
nians,  for  staging  purposes,  rapid  reading,  with  heavy  weight  pulling,  much 
superior  to  all  others. 

A  large  share  of  the  colts  by  Harris'  Hambletonian  were  gray,  and  for 
several  generations  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the  family  were  dis- 
tinctly marked.  For  reasons  already  suggested,  but  few  of  his  immediate 
male  descendants  were  saved  for  stock  purposes.  Mr.  Eddy  never  heard  of  but 
three  or  four,  and  has  but  little  knowledge  of  but  two. 


THE   GREEN   MOUNTAIN   SIRE.  32B 

Fillies  of  the  third  and  fourth  generation  are  sought  after  as  brood 
mares* 

Of  the  breeding  of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  on  the  sire's  side,  there  is  no 
shadow  of  doubt.  Of  his  dam,  I  think  all  that  can  be  fairly  and  reasonably 
said  is,  that  it  was  unknown.  Mr.  Wallace  states,  in  the  first  volume  of  his 
"Trotting  Register,"  that  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Munson  purchased  her  she 
was  represented  to  be  by  imp.  Messenger. 

The  dam  of  this  stallion  was  bought  for  stage  purposes  and  sent 
from  Boston  to  Vermont,  and  was  a  mare  of  great  quality  and  en- 
durance at  the  way  of  going  then  required  for  stage  purposes. 
"Whatever  may  have  been  her  blood,  she  had  good  blood,  and  she  had 
habits  of  muscle  and  nerve  that  adapted  her  to  road  service — habits 
which  had  been  acquired  by  service  in  that  particular  way,  and  she 
transmitted  them  to  the  son  she  produced,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
most  noted  sires  of  roadsters  we  have  ever  known.  His  trottino; 
character  may  be  altogether  due  to  the  blood  of  old  Messenger,  but 
that  blood  which  he  received  had  gone  through  the  important  processes 
by  which  the  galloping  instinct  of  the  Arab  had  been  eliminated,  and 
the  trotting  instinct,  inherited  from  Sampson,  had  by  use  and  road 
crosses  become  so  far  invigorated  and  reinforced  that  it  constituted 
the  essential  spirit  and  genius  of  the  horse.  He  was  a  great  trotting 
sire,  and  a  line  from  him  is  worth  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  line 
from  Messenger,  outside  of  Abdallah. 

I  make  the  following  interesting  compilation  from  another  source: 

The  Harris  horse  was  taken  early  to  Vermont,  and  being  a  gray, 
rather  large,  and  a  somewhat  plain-looking  horse  as  compared  with 
the  stylish,  trappy  Morgan  so  popular  in  that  day,  his  opportunities 
in  the  stud  were  limited.  What  he  accomplished,  however,  under  his 
unfavorable  surroundings,  proves  unmistakably  that  with  an  equal 
chance  he  would  have  been  the  peer  of  or  any  other  ever  in  the 
stud.  "We  will  name  some  of  his  produce,  taken  from  the  records 
of  winners^  as  indicating  his  abiHty  to  get  trotters  and  to  transmit 
the  power  of  reproduction  to  his  descendants.  It  will  be  admitted 
that  in  his  day,  considering  the  great  improvement  made  in  tracks, 
wagons,  driving,  etc.,  2:40  was  equal  to  2:20  or  2:25  at  the  present 
time. 

He  was  sire  of  Old  Sontag,  long  the  queen  of  the  turf  (as  much 
so  as  Goldsmith  Maid  has  been  the  past  few  years),  record  2:31  (draw- 
ing three  hundred  pounds),  and  beating  the  famous  Flora  Temple. 


324  OTHER   HAMBLETONIANS. 

Also  Green  Mountain  Maid,  record  2:34,  and  two  miles  in  5:08^, 
beating  Flora  Temple  in  2:354-. 

Also  Gray  Trouble,  with  record  2:41^  (drawing  three  hundred  and 
ninety-five  pounds). 

Also  Vermont,  with  record  2:32-^,  and  two  miles  in  5:09^,  and 
three  miles  in  8:02. 

Also  Modesty,  with  record  2:47. 

Also  Black  Maria  (dam  of  Young  Columbus),  with  record  2:31^, 
and  two  miles  in  5:12|^. 

He  was  not  only  a  sire  of  trotters  himself,  but,  like  Hamble. 
tonian,  (and  to  fully  as  great  a  degiee  considering  his  opportu- 
nities), he  had  that  remarkable  power  of  transmitting  the  reproduc- 
tive quality  to  his  descendants,  as  again  appears  from  the  records  of 
winners. 

He  was  sire  of  Parris  Hambletonian,  the  sire  of  Joker,  with  record 
2:22^,  and  forty-one  heats  in  2:30. 

A  daughter  of  his,  coupled  with  American,  produced  Nelly  Hol- 
comb,  with  record  of  2:28. 

Flying  Banner,  his  grandson,  sired  Fanny,  with  record  of  2:29. 

He  also  sired  the  grandam  of  John  Stewart;  his  record  2:30. 

A  daughter  of  his,  Black  Maria  (record  2:31|),  coupled  with 
Columbus,  produced  Young  Columbus,  and  he  sired — 

SeaFoam 2:233^    Myron  Perry 2:24i^ 

Comodore  Vanderbilt 2:25        Harry  Harley 2:25^ 

Phil  Sheridan 2:28i^. 

An  in-bred  granddaughter  of  his,  coupled  with  Vermont  Hero, 
produced  General  Knox,  which  crosses  come  to  light  again  in  the 
splendid  performances  of 

Lady  Maud 2:18)^    Camors 2:19?^ 

VermontHero 2:203^    Gilbraith  Knox 2:26^ 

Plato 2:27. 

A  daughter  of  his,  coupled  with  the  McNitt  horse,  produced  the 
Morse  horse,  sire  of  Norman;  Norman's  pedigree  being  reinforced 
again  by  the  Messenger  blood  through  Bishop's  Hambletonian,  the 
sire  of  his  grandam,  comes  to  light  again  in  the  magnificent  records 
of  Lulu,  2:14^,  and  May  Queen,  2:20. 

These  items  form  a  valuable  fragment  of  horse  history. 

In'  no  respect  has  the  influence  of  this  Vermont  family  of  Messen. 
gers  more  force  in   the  present  day  than  in  the  matter  of  gait  of 


GILT-EDGED.  325 


the  trotters  thus  descended.  It  is  not  the  Adballah  srait.  It  has 
not  the  elastic  and  springy  tread  of  the  Abdallah.  They  pick  up 
the  hind  feet  squarely,  folding  up  the  members  more  completely  than 
in  the  Abdallah,  and  display  more  muscular  action  and  vigor.  The 
grey  gelding  Phil  Sheridan  by  Creeper,  a  Morgan,  shows  just  such  a 
gait  as  Cuyler.  His  dam  was  a  grey  mare  from  Vermont,  called  a 
Messenger. 

Cuyler  is  a  valuable  stallion,  and  will  prove  an  excellent  breeder, 
especially  in  crossing  with  the  other  stock  of  the  State  in  which  he  is 
located.  He  has  none  of  the  Duroc-Messenger  mould  in  his  compo- 
sition, hence  he  will  be  a  valuable  horse  to  cross  with  the  descendants  of 
Mambrino  Chief  and  the  Hambletonians  of  the  Duroc-Messeno-er 
cross.  In  his  form,  and  in  his  leverage  and  gait,  he  shows  his  descent 
from  a  distinct  branch  of  the  family.  It  is  a  clear  type,  and  one  that 
will  afford  an  excellent  opportunity  for  reunions  of  the  blood  of  Mes- 
senger and  of  Hambletonian  coming  through  different  channels.  It 
is  wholly  a  road  or  trotting  element.  Use  and  employment  for  three 
generations  among  the  hillsides  and  valleys  of  Vermont  have  taken  all 
the  gallop  out  of  it.  Sampson  is  himself  and  a  trotter  again.  Cuyler 
is  now  only  ten  years  old,  but  is  fast  rising  to  fame  and  prominence 
as  a  sire.  His  daughter,  Lucy  Cuyler,  trotted  over  the  track  of  Col. 
Richard  West,  in  2:28-^,  as  a  three-year-old,  and  Col.  West  stated  that 
be  regarded  her  equal  to  2:25  on  the  Lexington  track. 

Orient  made  a  record,  as  a  two-year-old,  of  2:38,  and  trotted  the 
last  half  of  the  third  heat  in  l:15f.  She  was  sold  at  public  sale  for 
$2,500,  and  since  she  left  the  farm  she  has  trotted  over  Col.  West's 
track  a  quarter  in  36  seconds — a  2:24  gait.  Friedland  has  been 
regarded  as  her  equal.     He  sold  at  the  same  sale  for  $2,150. 

Cricket  trotted  in  2:3G,  in  private,  as  a  three-year-old. 

Mercedes  trotted  in  private,  as  a  three-year-old,  in  2 :44|-. 

Argyle,  as  a  two-year-old,  soon  after  breaking,  trotted  in  2:53. 

The  above  time  figures  are  taken  from  a  statement  of  the  owners , 
but  no  one  vpill  doubt  them.  I  will  say  further,  on  my  own  knowl- 
edge, that  Cuyler  shows  a  temper  as  even,  and  a  brain  as  level  and  as 
full  of  force  and  energy,  as  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  trotting  stallion.  He 
is  a  horse  that  I  greatly  admire,  and  I  predict  that  he  will  maintain 
his  place  among  the  good  ones  of  the  land  as  a  successful  trotting 
stallion. 


326  OTHER  HAMBLETONIANS. 

SONS   OF    CUTLEK. 

Amonp;  the  very  excellent  colts  by  Cuyler,  that  have  been  sent 
out,  the  following  may  be  named  as  those  which  will  be  watched  with 
especial  interest: 

Feiedland. — Bay  colt,  foaled  1875. 
First  dam  Artless,  by  Hambletonian. 

Second  dam  Dolly  Mills  (dam  of  Wallkill  Chief)  by  Seely^s  Amer- 
ican Star. 
Third  dam  Jennie  Lewis,  by  Young  Messenger,  son  of  the  Coburn 
Horse  by  Bush  Messenger,  son  of  imported  Messenger. 

Aegtle. — Bay  colt,  foaled  1875. 

Dam  Lady   Abdallah,  (dam  of  Granville,  record  2:26,  and  Kate 
Patchen,  2:35  as  five-year-old)  by  Alexander's  Abdallah. 

Gladstone. — Bay  colt,  foaled  1874. 

First  dam  Mary  Mambrino,  by  Mambrino  Patchen. 

Second  dam  Bell  Wagner,  by  Embry's  "Wagner. 

Third  dam  Lady  Belle,  by  Bellfounder  Jr. 

Fourth  dam  Multiflora,  by  Monmouth  Eclipse,  thoroughbred. 

KiNLOCK. — Bay  colt,  foaled  1874. 

First  dam  Lady  Geraldine,  by  Innis'  Brignolia,  son  of  Brignolia 
by  Mambrino  Chief. 

Second  dam  by  Sebastopol. 

Third  dam  by  Todhunter's  Sir  Wallace,  son  of  Sir  Alfred. 

Fourth  dam  by  Saxe  Weimar. 
Maemion. — Chestnut  colt,  foaled  1875. 

First  dam  Bridget,  by  George  M.  Patchen. 

Second  dam  by  Henry  May  Day. 

Capt.  Taylor. — Brown  colt,  foaled  1875. 

First  dam  Birdie  Guy,  by  Brigadier,  son  of  Brignolia. 

Second  dam  by  Norman  Temple,  son  of  Norman. 

Staot^et. — A  full  brother  to  Argyle,  foaled  1876. 

Galileo. — Bay  colt,  ankle  white,  foaled  1876. 
First  dam  Belladona,  by  Edward  Everett. 
Second  dam  by  Seely's  American  Star. 
Third  dam  by  Ohio  Eclipse. 

Fourth  dam  by  Post  Boy.  ' 

Fifth  dam  by  Wildair. 


HAPPY    MEDIUM.  327 

Marshall  Net. — A  bay  stallion,  foaled  1873,  and  Massena,  bay 
stallion,  foaled  1874.  Both  of  these  colts  are  from  Patchen  Maid^ 
a  very  superior  mare  by  Mambrino  Patchen,  second  dam  Lady 
Eleanor,  by  Mambrino  Chief,  one  of  the  best  of  his  daughters. 

HAPPY     MEDIUM. 

This  is  another  stallion  of  distinguished  parentage,  and  has  some 
fame  of  his  own.  He  is  owned  by  Robert  Steel,  Esq.,  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Happy  Medium  is  a  very  handsorae  bay  stallion,  15f  hands  high, 
with  two  white  hind  feet,  star  in  the  forehead,  and  snip  on  the  nose.  He 
was  foaled  in  1863,  and  bred  by  R.  F.  Galloway,  Esq.,  of  Rockland 
county,  N.  Y.  His  dam  was  the  celebrated  trotting  mare  Princess. 
She  was  by  Andrus'  Hambletonian,  son  of  Judson's  Hambletonian, 
by  Bishop's  Hambletonian. 

Princess  trotted  in  California  on  consecutive  days,  two  ten-mile 
races,  both  to  wagons,  winning  easily  an  immense  stake  of  $35,000,  in 
29:10f  and  29:16:|-.  She  subsequently  beat  the  famous  queen  of  the 
turf.  Flora  Temple,  in  a  two-mile  heat  race,  in  5:02. 

Happy  Medium,  when  six  years  old,  and  with  but  eight  days'  train- 
ing, trotted  at  Paterson,  New  .Jersey,  against  Guy  Miller  and  Hon- 
esty. In  the  first  heat  Honesty  was  distanced  in  2:34|^,  and  in  the 
second  heat  Guy  Miller  was  left  behind  the  flag  in  2:32^.  This  was 
Happy  Medium's  last  appearance  on  the  turf.  Since  then  he  has  been 
used  altogether  in  the  stud.  Mr,  Galloway  stated  that  before  he  dis- 
posed of  him,  he  had  driven  him  quarters  in  35  seconds,  to  a  w^agon 
carrying  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

He  was  purchased  from  Mr.  Galloway  in  1871,  for  the  sum  of 
$25,000,  and  removed  to  his  present  quarters,  at  the  Cedar  Park  Stock 
Farm.  Although  breeding  has  not  been  carried  on  to  any  very  great 
extent  in  that  vicinity,  yet  during  the  period  that  Happy  Medium  has 
been  at  the  Cedar  Park,  he  has  brought  in  a  revenue  of  nearly 
$40,000,  for  service  alone,  independent  of  the  mares  bred  belonging  at 
the  Farm,  according  to  the  statement  of  his  owner. 

At  the  time  Happy  Medium  was  purchased  he  was  a  young  horse, 
and  but  few  of  his  colts  had  made  their  appearance  upon  the  turf,  and 
was  comparatively  unknown,  further  than  being  the  son  of  Hamble- 
tonian and  the  famous  California  mare.  Princess. 

The  investment  of  $25,000  in  such  a  horse,  at  the  time,  was  looked 
upon   by  a  good   many  horsemen  as  being  unwise.     Since  then,   the 


328  OTHER  HAMBLBTONIANS. 

produce  of  Happy  Medium  have  annually  made  their  appearance  on 
the  turf,  in  difierent  localities,  and  their  performances  have  been  so 
numerous  and  creditable,  that  it  can  not  be  denied  by  any  impartial 
reader  or  thinker  but  that  he  has  been  a  valuable  and  successful  sire 
of  trotters. 

His  public  record  of  2:324,  in  an  easy  won  race,  as  a  six-year-old, 
was  certainly  a  very  satisfactory  performance,  and  showed  most  con- 
clusively that  he  had  inherited  all  the  trotting  instinct  of  his  famous 
sire  and  dam;  while  the  performanees  of  his  colts  are  a  most  sure 
guarantee  that  he  perpetuates  the  same  in  his  get.  The  following  is 
a  list  of  the  produce  of  Happy  Medium,  which  is  but  a  partial  one, 
with  a  brief  account  of  their  performances,  both  private  and  public, 
as  taken  from  the  statement  of  his  owner: 

Milton  Medium,  Fleetwood,  Baron  Luff,  Sans  Souci,  Happy 
Thought,  Alice  Medium,  Frank  Ellis,  Dixon,  Odd  Stocking,  Happy 
Medium  Jr.,  Jennie,  Minnie  Medium,  Harry  Ward,  Blaze  Medium, 
Rose  Medium,  Blanche  Medium,  the  Gillender  Mare,  Brigadier,  Grand 
Duke  Alexis,  Princess  Medium,  May  Medium,  Frank  Medium, 
Ellwood  Medium,  Helen  Medium,  Maud  Medium,  Dexter  Medium, 
Monroe  Medium,  Ethel  Medium,  and  many  others. 

This  is  a  list  of  trotters — every  one  of  them. 

Milton  Medium,  in  1876,  when  five  years  old,  won  a  race  at  Suffolk 
Park,  Philadelphia,  in  2:37, 2:36,  and  2:37.  Two  days  subsequently  he 
trotted,  over  the  same  course,  a  third  heat  in  2:31.  Afterward  he  was 
purchased  for  stud  purposes  by  J.  S.  Mendenthal,  Esq.,  of  Clarion 
county,  Pennsylvania,  for  $5,000.  He  is  now  in  California,  and 
Happy  Medium  can  safely  rest  his  reputation  with  the  breeders  of  the 
Pacific  Slope  upon  two  such  representatives  as  Milton  Medium  and 
Brigadier. 

Brigadier,  as  a  green  four-year-old,  last  year  won  his  maiden  race 
in  2:33^,  2:33^,  and  2:39.  Three  days  subsequently  he  won  the  race 
at  Chico,  Cal.,  for  four-year-olds,  in  2:40,  2:33^,  and  2:30.  After- 
ward he  won  three  more  races,  all  of  his  engagements,  only  losing  a 
single  heat  in  the  five  events. 

Happy  Thought  is  well  known  all  over  the  country.  As  a  three- 
year-old,  in  1875,  he  won  the  Charter  Oak  Colt  stakes,  at  Hartford,  in 
2:43  and  2:40,  with  commanding  ease.  As  a  four-year-old  he  did  not 
appear,  but  last  season,  as  a  five-year-old,  he  made  a  record  of  2:31. 
He  has  shown  his  owner,  Mr.  Morgan,  of  Stonington,  Conn.,  remarka- 
bly fast  time  in  repeated  trials. 


LIVELY   MEDIUMS.  329 

Baron  Luff  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  Happy  Medium's  sons.  Last 
season  he  made  a  record  at  Suffolk  Park  of  2:27,  in  the  easiest  possi- 
ble manner,  and  in  a  race  at  Point  Breeze  won  the  fourth  and  sixth 
heats  of  a  hotly  contested  race  in  2:27^  and  2:30|-.  At  Woodbury 
Park,  N.  J.,  over  a  half-mile  track,  he  won  a  six-heat  race,  taking  the 
concluding  heats  in  2:31^,2:31,  and  2:32.  He  is  now  a  prominent 
stallion. 

Fleetwood,  a  bay  stallion,  owned  by  James  McKee,  Esq.,  of  Pater- 
son,  N.  J.,  in  1876,  won  five  out  of  seven  races.  At  Point  Breeze 
Park,  Philadelphia,  he  got  a  record  of  2:29  in  a  third  heat. 

Rose  Medium  has  a  record  of  2:35,  which,  however,  is  no  measure 
of  her  speed.     Starting  in  June  of  last  year  she  trotted  before  the 
end  of  the  season  one  hundred   and  ten  heats  in  twenty-seven  races 
winning  sixteen  of  the  latter.     At  Point  Breeze  Park   she   was  at 
Penelope's  throat-latch  in  the  third  heat  of  a  race,  trotted  in  2:29. 

Sans  Souci  started  out  green  last  season  and  won  seven  races, 
making  a  record  of  2:33. 

Alice  Medium,  full  sister  to  Sans  Souci,  is  considered  by  Mr. 
Phillips  to  be  the  most  promising  Medium  he  ever  handled — and  he 
has  control  of  Baron  Luff  and  Sans  Souci. 

The  brown  stallion  Dixon,  before  he  became  lame  by  an  injury  to  one 
of  his  feet,  was  thought  by  horsemen  to  be  one  of  the  fastest  colts  of 
his  age  in  the  United  States.  His  four-year-old  record  was  2:36f. 
At  the  same  age  he  trotted  a  trial  in  2:27. 

The  bay  stallion  Frank  Ellis,  bred  and  owned  by  Mr.  Galloway, 
obtained  a  four-year-old  record  of  2:37.  In  1876,  in  his  five-year-old 
form,  he  reduced  his  record  to  2:33  over  a  half-mile  track  at  Ambler, 
where  he  distanced  a  strong  field  of  horses. 

Grand  Duke  Alexis  was  last  season  thought  by  such  an  astute 
driver  as  Charles  Green,  sufficiently  fast  to  enter  the  Grand  Circuit, 
but  went  amiss  in  his  training,  and  did  not  appear.  He  has  been 
■driven  a  trial  mile  by  Carl  Burr  in  2:25. 

Odd  Stocking  has  a  four-year-old  record  of  2:45.  She  was  sold  at 
that  age  for  a  large  price,  under  a  guarantee  to  show  !^:30. 

Blaze  Medium  has  a  three-year-old  record  of  2:41,  and  a  four-year- 
old  record  of  2 :40. 

Minnie  Medium  has  a  four-year-old  record  of  2 :40. 

Harry  Ward  has  a  four-year-old  record  of  2:42. 

Jennie  Medium  has  a  five-year-old  record  of  2:40. 

Haj)py  Medium  Jr.  has  a  four-year-old  record  of  2:44;^. 


330  OTHER  HAMBLETONIANS. 

Ell  wood  Medium  has  a  three-year-old  record  of  2:41^. 

Helen  Medium  has  a  four-year-old  record  of  2:40. 

Ethel  Medium,  owned  at  Altoona,  Pa.,  has  already  shown  this  season 
a  half  mile  in  1:17|-. 

Maud  Medium,  last  season,  trotted  a  half  mile  at  Point  Breeze,  ta 
wagon,  in  1:19. 

May  Medium  has  this  season,  with  two  weeks'  handling,  shown  a 
mile  in  2:38. 

Princess  Medium  trotted  a  mile  this  spring,  the  second  one  she  was 
given,  in  2:40. 

Leon  Medium  has  shown  very  fast  time,  and  is  valued  highly, 

I  am  obliged  to  say  of  this  stallion,  and  generally  of  his  descendants, 
that  I  do  not  like  their  feet.  They  do  not  have  foot  enough;  that  is,  it 
is  deficient  in  size  and  depth,  but  it  must  be  admitted  by  all  that  they 
know  how  to  handle  them.  The  feet  of  Princess  were  quite  faulty, 
and  she  was  often  lame. 

One  thing  is  clearly  apparent  in  this  horse  and  in  all  of  his  family,, 
and  the  same  is  seen  in  Cuyler: — the  Messenger  blood  which  gives 
them  their  character  as  trotters  was  the  pure,  unmixed  trotting  blood 
of  that  great  sire.  It  has  no  galloping  tendencies.  If  Happy  Medi- 
um could  go  as  fast  as  a  cannon  ball  he  would  want  to  go  at  a  trot,  and 
when  he  trots  he  goes  as  though  he  really  had  about  that  degree  of 
speed  in  view.  He  has  the  perfect  temper  and  spirit  of  a  trotting 
sire.  He  has  not  the  appearance  of  being  as  large  as  he  really  meas- 
ures. He  appears  to  be  smaller  than  Cuyler.  He  is  short  in  his 
leverage;  has  a  thigh  22  inches,  and  is  only  39  inches  from  hip  to 
hock;  but  ho  is  put  up  close  and  strong,  and  no  fault  can  be  found 
with  any  part  of  his  form  or  frame  work.  His  produce  strongly 
resemble  him  in  all  his  essential  points.  The  one  noticeable  fact 
about  them  is,  that  they  all  trot — mostly  inside  of  2:45,  and  many- 
inside  of  2:35,  while  some  have  a  record  in  2:30,  but  thus  far  none  in 
2:25.  If  they  are  to  be  called  the  Medium  family,  then  those  iu 
advance  of  them  must  get  off  quick,  and  keep  it  up  at  a  speedy  rato» 

HIS  SONS. 

Baron  Ltjpp. 

Dixon. 

Milton  Medium-. 

Happy  Thought, 

Prank  Ellis. 

Brigadier. 

All  included  in  the  foregoing  list,  and  are  valuable  young  stallions* 


SEASONED    TrMBER.  331 

DTJKE    OF    BRtnsrSWICK. 

This  is  a  bay  stallion,  foaled  1864.  He  was  bred  by  Harrison  Dur- 
kee,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  and  was  by  Hambletonian,  dam  Madam 
Loonier,  by  Warrior,  son  of  Young  Messenger,  by  Winthrop  Messen- 
ger, by  imported  Messenger. 

He  is  owned  by  Geo.  M.  Jewett,  Esq.,  of  Zanesville,  Ohio.  He  is 
fifteen  hands  two  inches  high,  and  has  a  star  in  his  forehead.  He  is  a 
very  evenly  proportioned  horse,  legs  somewhat  round  but  very  clean 
and  well  muscled.  While  he  was  owned  by  Mr.  Durkee,  he  was 
used  and  driven  as  a  road  horse  by  that  gentleman.  Soon  after  going, 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jewett,  and  while  he  was  in  service  as  a 
stallion  at  the  owner's  farm.  Fair  Oaks,  he  was  taken  to  the  Ohio 
State  Fair,  and  exhibited  in  the  class  of  stallions.  Never  having 
been  trotted  in  races,  he  showed  some  unsteadiness  in  company,  but 
won  the  second,  fourth  and  fifth  heats  in  2:40^,  2:40,  and  2:405^, 
showing  good  bursts  of  speed,  and,  considering  his  condition,  making 
a  very  creditable  race. 

JNIadam  Loomer  was  another  of  these  veteran  road  mares  that  came 
of  Messenger  blood,  well  seasoned  by  long  use  for  road  purposes. 
What  Harris'  Hambletonian  did  for  Vermont,  Winthrop  Messenger 
did  for  the  State  of  Maine  and  his  part  of  New  England.  The  Mes- 
sengers from  the  State  of  Maine  have  been  famous  for  over  half  a 
century.  Madam  Loomer  was  herself  a  very  superior  mare,  and 
produced  Dick  Loomer,  a  trotter  that  can  make  it  in  2:25.  She  also 
produced  a  young  stallion  by  Blackwood,  called  Black  Prince,  which 
has  been  sold  at  a  good  price  to  Mr.  John  Young,  of  Salt  Ijake  City, 
Utah.  Her  blood,  coming,  as  it  does,  so  directly  from  that  great  son 
•of  Messenger,  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  choicest  of  strains 
to  cross  with  the  blood  of  Hambletonian.  Her  family  »■  are  distin- 
guished as  having  embraced  many  noted  trotters. 

Directly  descended  from  this  family  is  Belle  Strickland,  2:26,  by 
the  Merrow  horse,  a  grandson  of  Winthrop  Messenger,  through  With- 
erell,  his  son,  and  Belle's  dam  was  also  by  Witherell.  This  same  son 
Witherell  produced  Belle  of  Portland,  2:26.  State  of  Maine,  an- 
other son,  produced  dam  of  Mambrino  Kate,  2:24^,  ari^  Logan's  Mes- 
senger, sire  of  Crown  Prince,  2:25.  The  famous  Fanny  Pullen,  dam 
of  Trustee,  the  twenty-mile  trotter,  was  a  daughtea  of  Winthrop 
Messenger.  She  also  produced  the  stallion  Bridge's  Emperor,  sire 
of  the  dam  of  Aristos.  The  real  excellence  of  the  blood  of  Messenger 
coming  through  this  and  the  other  New  England  branches,  is  due  to  the 


832  OTHER  HAMBLETONIANS. 

fact  that  it  was  trotting  blood — it  had  no  galloping  traits  or  instincts 
— it  produced  only  trotters  and  roadsters.  The  section  of  the  coun- 
try whence  it  came  did  not  indulge  in  racing,  and  the  horse  wa3 
from  the  earliest  period  inured  to  the  habits  of  a  roadster, 

Duke  of  Brunswick  has  not  been  in  the  stud  long  enough  yet  to 
give  proof  of  his  capacity  or  quality  as  a  sire,  but  the  results  of  his 
career  will  be  looked  to  with  great  confidence. 

He  presents  a  combination  of  trotting  blood  which  is  not  only 
tempting  to  the  breeder  of  trotters,  but  one  that  carries  with  it 
high  assurances  of  successful  results. 

GUY   MILLER. 

This  horse  was  foaled  in' 1856,  and  was  taken  to  California  in  I860,, 
and  died  soon  after  that  time.  He  was  a  trotter  of  some  merit;  a 
large  horse;  his  dam  was  by  Nanny's  Bolivar.  He  produced  two  sons 
that  have  in  turn  produced  trotters  in  the  2:30  list — Delmonico,  and 
Whipple's  Hambletonian.  The  dam  of  the  former  was  by  Hamble- 
tonian,  and  his  grandam  by  imported  Bellfounder.  He  has  pro- 
duced John  Murphy  Jr.,  five  years  old,  with  a  record  of  2:25,  and 
three  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  this  is  one  instance  in  which  a  son  of  Ham- 
bletonian has  been  successful  with  Bellfounder  mares.  Delmonico  i& 
strongly  in-bred  in  that  blood.  His  other  son,  Whipple's  Hamble- 
tonian, was  foaled  in  1860,  in  California,  and  his  dam  is  given  as 
Martha  Washington.  The  only  one  of  that  name  in  the  Trottinc/ 
Megister  that  could  have  been  his  dam,  was  by  Black  Bashaw,  son  of 
Young  Bashaw.  This  horse  has  been  quite  a  successful  stallion.  He 
has  six  performers  to  his  credit  in  the  2:30  list,  namely:  Ajax,. 
record  of  2:29,  two  heats;  Alameda  Maid,  2:27^,  four  heats;  Lady 
Blanchard,  2:26^,  four  heats;  Lou  Whipple,  2:26f,  eight  heats;  Rus- 
tic, 2:30;  and  Westfield,  2:26^,  and  two  heats. 

MIDDLETOWN. 

This  horse  was  foaled  in  1860.  His  early  owner  was  D.  B.  Irwin, 
of  Middletown,  New  York,  and  he  is  now  owned  in  Lancaster  county,. 
Pennsylvania.  His  pedigree  is  not  authenticated.  It  was  origi- 
nally entered  in  the  Trotting  Register  as  dam  by  American  Eclipse, 
grandam  by  Engineer,  but  the  pedigree  thus  given  has  no  support. 
His  dam  was  a  grey  mare  that  was  noted  as  being  a  real  good  one, 
but  the  true  pedigree  is  unknown.  Middletown  is  doubtless  a  good 
horse,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  blood  of  his  dam  can  not 


KNOWN   BY   THEIR    FRUIT.  833 

be  shown.  He  is  described  as  a  compact  and  handsome  horse,  and 
has  been  a  favorite  wherever  he  has  been  kept.  He  is  sire  of  Lady 
Blessington,  record  of  2:30,  and  of  Music  2:21|^,  with  twenty-three 
heats  in  2:30  or  better — all  I  believe  made  in  one  season,  soon  after 
which  she  was  purchased  by  Robert  Bonner,  Esq.  She  is  an  elegant 
chestnut  mare,  one  of  the  finest  and  most  beautiful  animals  in  the 
collection  owned  by  Mr.  Bonner,  which  is  unequaled  by  any  that  has 
ever  been  seen  in  the  possession  of  one  person  in  this  country. 
Middletown  is  a  valuable  stallion. 

LOGAK. 

This  is  a  dark  bay  stallion,  foaled  1854,  bred  by  Geo.  W.  Connor,, 
Orange  county.  New  York,  and  taken  to  Muscatine,  Iowa,  thence 
bought  by  David  A.  Gage,  and  brought  to  Chicago.  He  is  owned 
now  in  Indiana.  His  dam  was  by  Ohio  Eclipse,  grandam  by  Post 
Boy,  the  brother  to  Shakespeare,  son  of  Duroc,  having  one  or  two 
Duroc-Messenger  crosses.  He  was  a  good  stallion,  and  had  he  been 
kept  in  good  hands  and  received  a  proper  class  of  mares,  he  would 
have  been  successful.  But  the  man  having  him  in  charge  professed 
to  make  trotters  from  thoroughbreds,  and  did  not  value  such  blood  as 
Logan  possessed.  Notwithstanding  this,  before  he  went  into  those 
hands  he  produced  Skinkle's  Hambletonian  with  a  record  of  2:28f, 
and  Tramp,  the  sire  of  Trampoline,  2:25,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or 
better. 

He  showed  much  of  the  form  of  Hambletonian,  and  with  good 
mares  would  have  left  trotters.  He  has  generally  been  regarded  as  a 
failure. 

SEKECA   CHIEF. 

This  horse  was  foaled  1863,  dam  Lady  Jordan,  by  Latourettes  Bell- 
founder;  2d  dam  by  Walden  Messenger.  He  is  owned  by  Ira  H. 
Colman,  Sheldrake,  Seneca  county,  New  York.  He  is  undoubtedly  an 
excellent  stallion,  and  is  sire  of  some  valuable  animals.  He  is  sire  of 
Schuyler,  five  years  old,  with  record  of  2:26,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or 
better. 

WILLIE    SCHEPPER. 

This  is  a  bay  stallion,  foaled  1863.  His  dam  was  Nelly,  by  a  son 
of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  grandam  said  to  be  by  Busiris,  a  thorough- 
bred. The  mare  Nelly  was  a  very  superior  road  mare,  and  was 
generally  known  as  the  Turnbull  mare,  and  was  owned  by  Wm. 
Tumbull,  of  New  York,  the  breeder  of  Willie  Schepper. 


334  OTHER   HAMBLETONIANS. 

This  stallion  is  owned  by  Gen.  Jas.  W.  Singleton,  of  Quincy,  111., 
one  of  the  most  thorough  gentlemen  in  America,  and  occupying  a 
very  prominent  position,  both  in  political  circles  and  in  every  branch 
of  business  life. 

He  has  the  highest  appreciation  of  good  horses,  and  has  been  the 
owner  of  many  noted  animals,  and  as  early  as  1856  took  the  first 
premium  in  Illinois,  on  his  stallion  Silverheels  by  Vermont  Black- 
hawk. 

In  his  son  of  Hambletonian  he  has  an  excellent  stallion,  a  horse 
of  fine  form  and  handsome  leverage,  and  one  that  stamps  his  own 
quality  on  his  produce.  His  conformation  is  such  as  insures  an  even 
and  steady  gait,  being  rather  long  behind,  and  with  front  legs  fash- 
ioned after  the  most  exact  proportion.  On  inspecting  him,  I  could 
say  at  once  what  his  gait  was,  and  soon  had  an  opportunity  of  verify- 
ing my  opinion,  not  in  his  own  motion,  but  in  that  of  two  of  his  colts, 
a  three-year-old  and  a  two-year-old,  and  I  will  say  to  the  "Western 
breeders,  that  they  have  no  great  occasion  to  go  to  the  East  for  a 
good  son  of  Hambletonian. 

He  is  kept  like  many  others,  by  gentlemen  situated  as  Gen.  Sin- 
gleton is,  mainly  as  a  private  stallion,  and  such  horses  never  earn  the 
reputation  they  Avould  achieve  if  in  hands  that  would  secure  a  pro- 
miscuous patronage.  The  best  collection  of  mares  in  the  country  will 
not  secure  as  high  a  reputation  to  a  stallion  as  the  average  business 
of  one  good  locality  maintained  for  a  term  of  several  years. 

Edward  Everett,  Almont,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  Cuyler,  WiUie 
Schepper,  and  many  other  stallions  similarly  owned,  will  not  achieve 
the  reputation  that  would  follow  them  in  the  hands  of  owners  who 
depended  on  promiscuous  patronage  for  support  and  reputation. 


CHAPTEE  XYI. 

ABDALLAHS. 

I  PROPOSE  in  this  chapter  to  speak  of  several  branches  of  our  trot- 
ting families  descended  from  Abdallah,  and  not  embraced  in  the  family 
of  Hambletonian. 

Abdallah  left  other  sons  and  many  daughters,  and  through  his 
daughters,  especially,  several  other  families  have  come  into  distmctive 
prominence.  One  of  his  davighters  became  the  dam  of  Woodward's 
Ethan  Allen  and  Daniel  Lambert,  two  stallions  that  will  be  noticed  in 
the  chapter  on  Justin  Morgan  and  his  descendants;  another  daughter 
became  the  dam  of  Taggart's  Abdallah,  to  be  noticed  in  the  sanje 
chapter;  another  daughter  became  the  dam  of  Dixon's  Ethan  Allen, 
also  to  be  noticed  in  the  same  chapter;  another  daughter  became 
the  dam,  and  still  another  the  grandam  of  the  stallion  Jupiter  Abdal- 
lah, to  be  noticed  further  in  this  chapter. 

HIS    SONS. 

Abdallah  left  one  son  known  in  later  years  as  Spaul ding's  Abdallah. 
He  was  foaled  sometime  about  the  year  1840;  his  dam  was  by  Star 
Gazer,  son  of  Engineer.  He  was  bred  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  was  sold  at  an  early  day  to  Dr.  Spaulding,  of 
Greenupsburg,  Ky.,  and  was  owned  for  several  years  by  Mr.  D.  White, 
of  Yates  City,  111.  He  died  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  White  about  the 
year  1875,  and  it  was  then  claimed  that  he  was  forty  years  old.  He 
was  a  chestnut,  and  his  stock  are  mostly  chestnuts  and  yellow  bays, 
and  nearly  every  one  had  a  list  or  stripe  along  the  back,  from  the 
withers  to  the  tail.  He  was  sire  of  John  M.  Botts  that  attained  some 
reputation  as  a  trotter. 

Abdallah  also  left  Vansiclen's  Abdallah,  a  bay  horse,  foaled  about 
1844;  his  dam  was  by  Hickory,  and  his  grandam  by  Mambrino,  the 
dam  of  Hickory  being  also  by  Mambrino.  If  there  was  any  merit  in 
22  (3i{5) 


1*336  ABDALLAIIS. 

the  concentrated  blood  of  Mambrino  and  Messenger,  this  horse  had 
enough  to  constitute  him  a  successful  stallion,  but  Ave  only  hear  of 
him  occasionally  in  the  pedigree  of  some  other  animals. 

The  most  distinguished  son  of  Abdaliah,  aside  from  Hambletonian, 
was  Roe's  Abdaliah  Chief.  He  was  a  chestnut,  and  was  foaled  in 
1848;  his  dam  was  by  Phillips,  and  his  grandam  by  Decatur;  Phillips 
was  by  Duroc,  dam  by  Messenger,  and  Decatur  was  by  Henry,  dam 
by  American  Eclipse — hence  this  horse  had  tAvo  of  the  Duroc-Mes- 
senger  crosses  on  his  dam's  side.  He  was  bred  by  Jonathan  S. 
Wood,  of  Orange  county.  New  York,  and  sold  to  Seely  C.  Roe,  and 
inihe  fall  of  1855  he  was  sold  to  E.  N.  Wilcox  and  several  other 
gentlemen  at  Detroit,  Mich.  He  lived  only  part  of  the  next  season, 
and  did  not  leave  above  eight  foals  in  the  West.  He  had  a  habit 
of  springing  to  his  feet  at  one  bound,  when  lying  on  the  ground,  and 
in  the  act  of  doing  this  he  broke  his  thigh,  like  the  great  stallion 
Medoc,  and  thus  was  lost  to  his  owners  at  the  age  of  eight  years. 

He  was  a  very  popular  horse,  and  when  the  gentlemen  from  Detroit 
went  to  Ora«ge  county  to  buy  a  stallion,  they  were  offered  Hamble- 
tonian at  the  same  price,  as  is  stated,  but  preferred  Abdaliah  Chief, 
He  had  no  Bellfounder  blood,  but  he  had  two  Duroc  crosses.  While 
ift  Orange  county  he  left  several  daughters,  which  have  since  been 
prized  as  the  dams  of  distinguished  stallions.  Messenger  Duroc, 
Lysander  and  Allen  C.  Patchen  came  from  daughters  of  Abdaliah 
Chief. 

While  at  Detroit  he  produced  Abdaliah  Roebuck  and  Erie  Abdal- 
iah; and  Abdaliah  Roebuck,  from  the  dam  of  Erie  Abdaliah,  after- 
ward produced  Abd-el-Kader.  These  are  three  very  excellent  stal- 
lions, and  their  pedigrees  embrace  a  series  of  the  choicest  strains  of 
the  blood  of  Messenger  anywhere  to  be  found  in  this  country. 

Abdaliah  Roebuck  was  owned  by  Gen.  Wilcox,  and  was  by  him 
used  and  ridden  when  in  command  of  the  defenses  of  Washington^ 
during:  the  late  civil  war. 

Erie  Abdaliah  is  owned  at  Mt.  Vernon,  Ohio,  and  has  been  a  good 
trotter,  and  a  successful  stallion.  I  believe  the  premium  stallion  of 
Ohio  for  1877  was  a  son  of  Erie  Abdaliah. 

The  following  letter  addressed  to  me  several  years  ago,  by  the  then 
OAvner  of  Erie,  making  all  allowance  for  the  partiality  and  enthusiasm 
of  an  owner,  will  show  in  fair  degree  the  merits  of  Erie  Abdaliah: 

Being  the  owner  of  the  stallion  Erie  Abdaliah,  by  Roe's  Abdaliah  Chief 
dam,  the  dam  of  Abd-el-Kader,  I  address  you  this  note. 


ERIE   ABDALLAH.  337 

My  horse  is  proving  to  be  a  very  superior  stock  horse,  and  was  also  very 
successful  as  a  trotter  the  seasons  of  1867,  '68  and  '69  when  I  bought  him  and 
withdrew  him  from  the  track. 

I  will  give  you  a  little  account  of  his  campaigns :  He  was  brought  to  Ohio 
in  the  spring  of  1867,  and  was  bred  to  seventy-two  mares,  and  handled 
through  the  season  and  then  trotted  eight  races,  winning  them  all ;  trotting 
his  heats  from  39  to  44.  The  next  season  was  bred  to  eightj^-seven  mares,  and 
trotted  several  3  in  5  races,  two  3-mile-aud-repeat  races  to  wagon,  and  trotted 
one  heat  in  5 :  18.  The  same  season  was  taken  from  his  owner's  stable  in 
Lorain  Co.,  to  Mt.  Vernon,  Knox  Co.,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  left  his  owner's 
stable  on  Monday  morning,  roaded  to  Mt.  Vernon,  arrived  there  on  Tuesday 
evening,  trotted  a  8  in  5  race  on  Wednesday,  also  one  on  Thursday,  and  on 
Friday  a  ten  mile  dash  which  he  won  in  31  minutes  and  9  seconds ;  was  timed 
the  last  mile  and  trotted  it  in  2  minutes  and  40  seconds  over  a  heavy  half 
mile  track.  The  season  of  1869  he  was  bred  to  ninety-six  mares,  and  trotted 
through  the  fall,  and  trotted  in  2 :  34 ;  since  that  time  he  has  been  kept  ex- 
pressly for  a  stock  horse. 

I  showed  him  at  the  Northern  Ohio  Fair  of  1870,  as  a  stallion  with  five  of 
his  get — all  2-year-olds — and  received  the  prize,  also  2d  prize  as  a  stallion 
for  general  utility.  In  1871  I  showed  him  with  five  3-year-olds  and  a  pair  of 
matched  geldings  from  Michigan,  6  years  old,  and  got  the  prize  again.  The 
colts  all  got  first  premiums  in  their  classes.  The  pair  got  the  first  premium 
as  matched  roadsters,  and  first  and  second  premium  as  single  roadsters.  Erie 
got  the  second  premium  as  a  roadster  stallion.  The  last  season  I  showed 
him  again  with  five  of  his  2  and  3-year-olds,  all  in  harness,  and  received  the 
prize.  I  have  shown  him  against  three  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian — one 
a  horse  owned  at  Goshen,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.,  one  at  Dunkirk,  N.  Y.,  and  Star 
Hambletonian  of  Elyria,  Ohio — and  several  of  the  best  thoroughbreds  and 
roadsters  we  have  in  Ohio.  I  have  shown  him  seven  times  with  his  colts,  and 
never  has  he  left  a  show  ring  without  the  ribbons. 

I  think  you  will  believe  I  have  a  horse  of  great  endurance  as  well  as  a 
superior  stock  horse. 

The  following  description  and  pedigree  will  show  the  rich  breeding 
of  these  three  stallions: 

Abd-el-Kadek,  by  Abdallah  Roebuck,  he  by  Abdallah  Chief,  he  by  Abdallah, 
he  by  Mambrino,  and  he  by  imported  Messenger. 

His  dam  (the  Watson  mare  by  Hickory)  came  from  very  noted  sources,  and 
was  herself  distinguished  as  a,  trotter  and  a  mare  of  great  beauty. 

Her  sire,  Hickory,  was  a  runner  and  a  trotter,  and  distinguished  at  both 
gaits.  He  was  by  old  Hickory;  Ist  dam  by  Mambrino,  and  2d  dam  by  im- 
ported Highlander. 

Old  Hickory  was  by  imported  Whip,  and  his  dam  was  Dido  by  imported 
Dare  Devil.     He  was  a  successfnl  race-horse,  and  the  sire  of  race-horses. 

Abd-el-Kad^'8  second  dam  was  an  Anglo-Canadian  mare,  bred  in  the 
county  of  Essex,  Ontario. 


338  ABDALLAHS. 

Dam  of  Abdallah  Roelmck  was  Lady  Washington,  by  Washington,  by 
H'apoleon,  by  Young  Mambrino,  by  Chancellor,  by  Mambrino. 

Dam  of  Chancellor  by  imported  Messenger. 

Dam  of  Napoleon  by  American  Commander,  by  Commander,  by  imported 
Messenger. 

Dam  of  Young  Mambrino  by  Duroc. 

Dam  of  American  Commander  by  imported  Light  Infantry,  and  he  by  the 
celebrated  English  Eclipse,  and  his  second  dam  by  Childers. 

Dam  of  Abdallah  Chief  by  Philips,  he  by  Duroc,  his  dam  by  Messenger, 
his  2d  dam  by  Saltram.  Second  dam  of  Abdallah  Chief  ))y  Decatur,  he  by 
Sir  Henry,  son  of  Sir  Archy,  dam  by  imported  Diomed,  Decatur's  dam  by 
American  Eclipse. 

Abd-el-Kader  embraces  many  lines  of  the  blood  of  imported  Messenger,  all 
coming  through  the  best  sources,  and  crossed  with  strains  of  the  blood  of 
English  Eclipse,  Childers,  imported  Light  Infantry,  imported  Diomed,  Sir 
Archy,  Duroc,  Hemy,  American  Eclipse,  Decatur  and  Saltram — names  most 
distinguished  in  English  and  American  Turf  history.  No  more  highly  or 
better  bred  trotting  stallion  can  be  found  anywhere.  He  was  foaled  in  1861, 
is  a  blood  bay,  with  a  little  white  on  each  left  foot ;  is  full  16  hands  high,  and 
as  a  horse  of  faultless  symmetry,  high  breeding  and  unrivaled  beauty,  can  be 
shown  in  any  company.  He  is  untrained,  but  shows  superior  trotting  action, 
breeds  large,  and  almost  uniformly  bays,  closely  resembling  himself  in  marks 
and  general  form.  All  his  colts  are  very  blood-like  in  appearance,  and  their 
trotting  action  is  yery  superior.  Like  himself,  they  are  all  perfectly  kind  and 
docile,  eyen  when  they  have  come  from  vicious  and  untamable  mares. 

He  is  now  doing'  service  at  Peru,  Indiana,  and  has  one  son  that 
is  no  discredit  to  him  as  a  sire.  Tliis  son  is  now  three  years  old 
and  the  description  of  the  sire  will  apply  to  the  son,  except  that  the 
latter  has  no  white  and  is  a  darker  but  very  rich  bay. 

The  following  is  his  pedigree: 

Euripides. — Bay  stallion,  foaled  1875  by  Abd-el-Kader;  first 
dam  Abby  Bacchante,  by  Lakeland  Abdallah;  second  dam  Mambrino 
Bacchante,  by  Mambrino  Chief;  third  dam  Grey  Bacchante,  by  Down- 
ing's  Bay  Messenger;  fom-th  dam  by  Whip  Comet;  fifth  dam  by  Grey 
Messenger,  he  by  Dove,  by  Saratoga,  by  imported  Messenger.  The 
pedigree  of  Grey  Messenger  in  full,  is  given  in  the  Chapter  on  Ham- 
bletonian. 

This  colt,  I  may  say,  is  regarded  by  those  who  have  seen  him  as 
worthy  of  his  high  breeding.  As  he  and  his  sire  are  owned  by  my- 
self, I  only  include  this  reference  to  them  from  the  feeling  that  they 
have  too  much  merit  individually  and  as  descendants  of  Abdallah 
Chief  to  pass  unnoticed.  » 


THE   LOST   TROJAN.  339 

HIS    DAUGHTERS. 

The  branch  of  the  family  of  Abdallah  represented  by  Jupiter 
Abdallah,  although  in  the  male  line  from  another  family,  is  deserving 
of  especial  notice. 

Jupiter  Abdallah  was  by  Jupiter,  and  he  by  Long  Island  Black- 
hawk,  son  of  Andrew  Jackson,  a  member  of  the  Bashaw  family,  which 
will  be  considered  in  Chapter  XIX.  Jupiter  was  strong  in  the  blood 
of  Messenger.  His  dam  was  Gipsy  by  Almack,  and  he  was  a  son  of 
Mambrino.  In  him  the  families  of  Mambrino  and  Young  Bashaw  were 
united,  and  in  Jupiter  Abdallah  the  blood  of  Abdallah  was  introduced 
in  a  double  current. 

The  dam  of  Jupiter  Abdallah  was  by  Abdallah,  and  his  grandam 
was  his  daughter  also.  So  highly  has  the  blood  of  Abdallah  been 
prized,  that  incestuous  crosses  have  been  tolerated  in  that  strain  more 
than  in  any  other  known  to  our  American  horse  breeders.  Jupiter 
Abdallah  was  foaled  in  1855.  He  is  the  sire  of  Result,  winner  of  the 
2:28  purse,  for  stallions,  at  Fleetwood,  Oct.  16,  1877,  losing  the  first 
heat  by  a  head  only,  in  2:24^,  and  taking  the  last  three  heats  at  his 
ease  in  2:26,  2:27,  and  2:27,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  many  competent 
judges,  was  able  to  have  trotted  in  2:20.  He  was  sire  also  of  Roden's 
Prince,  record  2:27.  Prince  showed  a  private  trial  over  the  Fashion 
course  in  2:23  in  harness,  and  a  repeat  the  same  day  to  wagon  in  2:25, 
He  is  sire  also  of  Tom  Moore,  record  2:28. 

Lady  Salisbury,  a  daughter  of  Abdallah,  left  a  son  of  some  distinc- 
tion. She  was  foaled  in  1840.  Her  son  Trojan  was  by  Flying  Cloud, 
a  son  of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  whose  dam  was  by  Andrew  Jackson. 
This  was  one  of  several  instances  where  the  blood  of  Abdallah 
and  that  of  the  Morgan  families  was  united  and  resulted  in  a  superior 
trotting  sire. 

This  Trojan  went  into  the  State  of  Missouri  and  has  been  lost  or  is 
dead,  but  he  has  left  valuable  stock,  and  the  inquiries  that  have  been 
made  for  the  missing  Trojan  much  remind  us  of  the  wanderings  of 
the  long  lost  Ulysses.  We  are  not  told  whether  his  Penelope 
remained  as  steadfast  during  his  long  absence  as  did  that  of  the  King 
of  Ithaca.  It  may  yet  transpire  that  some  winning  Calypso  has 
ensnared  the  wanderer,  and  if  he  has  improved  the  time  and  oppor- 
tunity, we  may  yet  have  some  interesting  returns  from  this  wayward 
IVojan.  Before  he  disappeared,  he  produced  Ella  Wright,  that  now 
has  a  record  of  2:24f,  and  nine  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

The    following  sketch,   descrijDtive    of  Tom  Moore   and  Flatbush 


340  ABDALLAHS. 

Abdallah,  has  been  prepared  at  my  request  by  an  Illinois  gentleman, 
whose  accuracy  and  faithfulness  in  describing  the  great  stallions, 
entitle  him  to  a  place  among  the  numerous  and  valuable  contributors 
to  the  turf  journals.     I  adopt  his  sketches  as  my  own. 

"Tom  Moore,  bred  by  the  late  Z.  B.  Van  Wyck,  Esq.,  of  Flatbush, 
Long  Island,  and  now  owned  by  his  son,  Mr.  Frank  Van  Wyck,  was 
by  Jupiter  Abdallah,  and  foaled  Oct.  15,  1868.  First  dam  Nellie 
Moore,  a  famous  road  mare,  by  Westchester,  a  son  of  Long  Island 
Blackhawk;  second  dam  by  Bellbrino,  son  of  imp.  Bellfounder;  third 
dam  by  Almack,  By  Mambi-ino,  son  of  Messenger. 

"  Jupiter  Abdallah  was  by  Jupiter,  son  of  Long  Island  Blackhawk, 
while  his  dam  and  grandam  were  by  Abdallah,  son  of  Mambrino,  by 
Messenger.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Tom  Moore  is  strong  in  the 
blood  of  Messenger,  Bellfounder  and  Long  Island  Blackhawk.  His 
color  is  solid  mahogany  bay,  with  large  star  and  white  ankles  behind; 
his  coat  is  exceedingly  fine,  with  a  gloss  resembling  satin;  his  mane 
very  good,  and  his  tail  equal  to  any  we  have  ever  seen;  his  legs  are 
black  well  up  to  his  body,  clean  and  free  from  all  defects,  with  broad 
knees  and  hocks,  and  plenty  of  bone  and  muscle,  while  his  feet  are  of 
faultless  shape  and  quality.  His  height  is  15  hands  and  3  inches,  his 
forearm  21  inches,  and  front  cannon-bone  11  inches;  from  centre  of 
hip  to  point  of  hock  39  inches;  from  stifle  to  point  of  hock  23^  inches, 
and  from  point  of  hock  to  centre  of  ankle  17  inches.  The  triangle 
from  centre  of  hip  to  root  of  tail  is  20  inches,  thence  to  stifle  27 
inches,  thence  to  centre  of  hip  18  inches;  his  back  is  short,  with  strong 
muscular  loin  and  stifles,  and  quarters  reaching  far  down  into  strong 
smooth  hocks.  His  ear  is  of  medium  size,  but  fine  and  well  shaped;  his 
neck  long  and  clean  with  slight  arch;  his  nostrils  thin,  with  large  clean 
throttle  and  windpipe;  his  eye  large  and  clear,  showing  a  little  white, 
indicative  of  great  positiveness  of  character,  at  the  same  time  bear- 
ing an  expression  of  countenance  indicating  a  decided  preference  for 
friendly  relations.  He  has  a  record  of  2 :28,  and  we  are  informed  that 
he  has  trotted  a  half  mile  in  1 :  09.  He  has  never  been  in  stud  service 
till  the  present  season,  1878,  though  he  has  got  two  or  three  colts 
previously,  one  of  which  we  have  seen,  and  regard  very  promising. 
Combining,  as  he  does,  the  Messenger,  Bellfounder  and  Long  Island 
Blackhawk  blood,  he  will  undoubtedly  prove  a  valuable  horse  for 
either  stud  or  track  purposes. 

"  Since  the  first  time  the  writer  saw  this  horse,  he  has  never  visited 
New   York  without    a  visit  also  to  the  box  of  Tom  Moore,  at  Flat- 


THE   FLATBUSH   ABDALLAHS.  341' 

bush.  At  each  visit,  and  they  have  been  several,  this  horse  grows  in 
his  estimation.  For  fine,  smooth  finish,  strength  of  bone  and  mus- 
cles, fineness  of  coat,  elegance  of  carriage,  and  rapidity  of  gait,  we 
have  never  seen  a  stallion  more  to  be  admired  than  this  same  Tom 
Moore.  , 

"Flatbush  Abdallah,  also  bred  by  the  late  Z.  B.  Van  Wyck, 
Esq.,  and  still  owned  at  the  Van  Wyck  homestead,  was  by  Jupiter 
Abdallah,  and  foaled  Feb.  28,  1870.  First  dam  Abdallah  Maid,  by 
Flying  Cloud,  son  of  Vermont  Blackhawk;  second  dam  by  Vansiclen's 
Abdallah,  by  old  Abdallah;  third  dam  by  Hickory;  fourth  by  Mam- 
brino,  son  of  Messenger.  His  color  is  dark  bay,  bordering  on  brown, 
with  blaze  in  forehead,  and  white  on  one  foot.  His  height  is  16  hands 
and  3  inches,  and  weight  about  1,300  lbs.;  his  forearm  is  22  inches, 
and  front  cannon-bone  12  inches;  from  centre  of  hip  to  point  of  hock 
42  inches;  from  stifle  to  point  of  hock  25|-  inches,  and  from  point  of 
hock  to  centre  of  ankle  17f  inches.  He  has  an  abundance  of  bone, 
muscle  and  strength  most  admirably  distributed;  his  back  is  short, 
Avith  loins  well  arched  and  strongly  supjDorted,  and  at  this  point  we 
have  never  seen  his  superior.  He  is  strong  in  the  quarters,  stifles  and 
thighs,  with  abundance  of  muscle  well  laid  on.  His  knees  and  hocks 
are  broad,  strong  and  free  from  defects,  which  also  applies  to  his 
entire  limbs;  his  feet  are  unsurpassed.  The  only  part  of  the  horse  we 
do  not  like,  is  his  rather  laro;e  and  coarse  Abdallah  head.  His  eve  is 
good,  very  good,  and  his  temper  amiable;  his  chest  is  deep,  with 
plenty  of  heart  room. 

"  When  three  years  old  he  trotted  a  full  mile  in  2 :50,  and  being  large 
he  was  not  driven  for  speed  till  1877.  In  August  of  that  year  he 
showed  a  mile  in  2:38,  and  a  half  mile  in  1:17.  We  have  seen  sev- 
eral colts  of  his  get,  every  one  of  which  show  remarkable  trotting 
action.  He  is  a  most  wonderful  horse,  and  we  believe  bears  a  stronger 
resemblance  to  old  Abdallah  than  any  horse  we  know.  That  he  will 
be  an  impressive  sire  his  few  colts  fully  demonstrate. 

"  Belle  of  Kings,  a  beautiful  bay  mare,  full  sister  to  Tom  Moore,  has 
shown  trials  in  2:29.  Abbie  Moore  also  by  Jupiter  Abdallah,  first  dam 
by  Peacemaker,  second  dam  the  dam  of  Tom  Moore,  is  a  filly  of  unus- 
ual promise." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  this  fam.ily  of  stallions,  so  strong  in  the 
blood  of  Abdallah  and  Messenger,  would  be  successful  with  the 
Harry  Clay  mares  and  those  by  Messenger  Duroc,  Almont,  Thorn- 
dale,  and  the  descendants  of  Mambrino  Chief  generally.  The  Duroc- 
Messenffer  strains  and  conformation  are  the  needful  elements 
required  in  their  composition. 


342  ABDALLAHS. 

The  Abdallah  blood  is  a  truly  great  one,  but  the  history  of  our 
trotting  turf  has  shown  so  much  success  resulting  from  the  addition 
of  both  tlie  Bellfounder  and  the  Duroc-Messenger  strains,  that  we 
are  not  without  abundant  light  for  our  guidance  in  the  selection  of  a 
rich  field  for  so  much  of  the  concentrated  blood  of  the  king  of 
trotting  stallions. 

From  such  sires  as  Jupiter  Abdallah,  Flatbush  Abdallah  and  Tom 
Moore,  and  mares  of  the  Harry  Clay,  Hambletonian  or  Mambrino 
Chief  families,  we  should  gather  yet  many  Bodines,  St.  Juliens, 
Lady  Thorns,  AUie  Wests,  and  Thorndales,  kings  and  princes  of 
the  trottino;  turf. 

I  may  in  this  connection  be  excused  for  again  referring  to  my  colt 
Euripides.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  is  a  Duroc-Messenger  of  the 
strongest  type.  He  has  probably  four  Duroc  crosses.  He  has  three 
crosses  of  Abdallah,  and  more  crosses  of  Messenger  than  almost  any 
stallion  in  the  land;  but  these  crosses  are  interwoven  so  completely 
and  the  changes  from  one  type  to  another  made  so  gradually,  that 
he  affords  one  of  the  finest  illustrations  anywhere  to  be  found,  of 
the  effect  of  frequently,  yet  thus  by  gradual  approaches,  crossing 
the  Duroc  and  the  Messenger  bloods.  He  receives  from  his  dam 
two  crosses  of  Bellfounder,  but  in  a  remote  form  and  coming  through 
Lakeland  Abdallah,  a  strong  Abdallah  composition,  yet  his  length 
from  hip  to  hock  already  surpasses  any  member  of  his  family,  his 
sire  or  dam.  He  is  now  over  40  inches  in  that  line,  and  will  probably 
reach  the  full  measure  of  41  inches.  He  will  be  full  sixteen  hands 
high,  but  his  hock  has  the  appearance  of  being  nearer  to  the  ground 
than  any  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  horse  of  equal  size.  His  hock,  more- 
over, has  the  best  support  and  extends  downward  so  far,  and  he 
shows  a  rear  cannon-bone  so  short,  as  to  attract  the  observation  of 
any  one  with  a  practiced  eye.  His  composition,  so  thoroughly  yet 
so  gradually  inwrought  with  the  elements  of  Duroc  and  Messenger, 
and  Avith  what  Bellfounder  came  to  him  through  Lakeland  Abdallah, 
renders  him  one  of  the  most  symmetrical  and  highly  formed  young 
stallions  I  have  ever  seen.  Such  is  the  advanced  stage  in  breeding 
yet  open  to  the  Americari  breeder  from  the  opportunities  afforded  in 
the  proper  union  of  the  blood  of  our  great  trotting  families  of  the 
present  day. 


CHAPTEE  XYII. 

THE  CHAMPIONS. 

In  this  family  we  have  elements  of  blood  for  trotting  purposes 
equaled  perhaps  only  by  two  or  three  lines  from  imported  Messenger. 
While  Harris'  Hambletonian  and  Judson's  came  from  Bishop's  Ham- 
bletonian,  and  Witherell,  Warrior  and  State  of  Maine  came  from 
Winthrop  Messenger,  Mambrino  gave  us  Abdallah  and  Almack, 
both  bred  by  Mr.  John  Tredwell,  and  from  his  two  matched  road 
mares,  Amazonia  and  Sophonisba.  This  latter  mare  was  by  a  grand- 
son of  imported  Baronet.  She  produced  Almack  in  1823,  the  same 
year  that  her  mate  produced  Abdallah.  Almack  has  not  left  the 
reputation  of  being  a  great  trotting  sire,  yet  if  he  had  not  lived  in 
the  days  of  Abdallah  he  might  have  been  so  accovmted.  He  gave 
us,  as  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  Gipsy,  the  dam  of  Jupiter. 

GRINNELIi's     CHAMPI0]Sr. 

In  1843,  Champion,  the  son  of  Almack,  a  chestnut  horse,  was 
foaled  on  Long  Island.  His  dam  was  Spirit  by  Engineer,  and  his 
grandam  was  by  American  Eclipse.  Such  is  the  pedigree  as  given  in 
the  Trotting  Register,  but  it  is  not  stated  what  Engineer  was  the  sire 
of  Champion's  dam.  If  it  was  Engineer,  son  of  Messenger,  it  will  occur 
to  the  reader  that  he  must  have  been  a  pretty  old  horse  to  have  been  mated 
with  a  daughter  of  American  Eclipse.  But  if  it  was  Engineer  second, 
son  of  first  Engineer,  it  would  better  comport  with  the  dates  and  the 
locality.  The  turf  journals  have  not  given  much  light  as  to  the 
early  history  of  this  family,  but  the  owner  of  the  first  Champion, 
Mr.  William  R.  Grinnell,  is  still  living  in  the  central  part  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  on  or  near  Cayuga  Lake.  Mr.  Grinnell  bought 
Champion  when  he  was  three  years  old,  and  he  has  ever  since  been 
called  Grinnell's  Champion. 

A   correspondent  of   Wallace's  Monthly^  has  given  the  public  a 

(343) 


344  THE   CHAMPIONS. 

description   and   the   early    history  of   this  horse,  in  a  letter  to  that 
journal,  from  which  I  extract  the  following: 

He  was  a  golden  chestnut,  about  16  hands,  with  a  perfect  diamond  on  his 
nose,  and  two  white  socks  behind.  In  his  general  make-up  he  partook  much 
of  the  thoroughbred  appearance;  the  lightness  of  his  head  and  neck,  his 
wir_y  leg  and  elastic  movement,  his  glossy  coat,  and  waveless  mane  and  tail, 
shaded  from  a  darker  hue  to  a  bright  tint  on  the  edge;  in  all,  a  perfect  type  of 
the  high-bred  runner.  He  was  exhibited  at  the  State  Fair,  at  Auburn,  New 
York,  in  1848.  I  can  never  forget,  though  quite  young,  this  eventful  show,  as 
he  assumed  that  position  among  his  cotemporaries  that  bade  defiance  to  the 
artist.  He  seemed  to  realize  the  expression  of  his  figure  upon  the  multitude, 
that  he  was  the  great  object  of  admiration,  and  that  all  were  longing  to  share 
in  the  delight  of  a  look  at  him.  He  was  by  xilmack,  by  Mambrino,  son  of 
imported  Messenger. 

Neighbor  Grinnell  tells  a  humorous  story  of  the  manner  in  which  he  hap- 
pened to  purchase  this  colt.  While  visiting  his  uncle,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  in 
the  city,  he  was  invited  one  beautiful  morning,  by  a  friend  in  Brooklyn,  to 
take  a  ride  behind  a  3 :  30  horse,  which  he  gladly  accepted.  After  going 
about  two  miles,  a  fat  Dutchman,  with  a  pale,  compact,  bay  mare  and  market 
wagon,  was  discovered  behind,  and  keeping  up  without  any  apparent 
difliculty.  G.'s  friend  says,  "  I'll  lose  him  in  a  single  square  when  we  strike 
the  Av."  When  the  Av.  was  reached,  John  extended  his  horse,  and  up 
alongside  and  by  went  the  Dutchman,  as  though  he  was  simply  in  a  hurry  to 
his  work.  After  going  about  three  squares,  the  Dutchman  stopped  at  his 
place  of  business.  Mr.  G.  says  to  his  friend,  "John,  stop,"  which  they  did, 
*'  and  I'll  buy  that  animal  and  take  her  home."  "  Can't  sell,"  says  the  Dutch, 
man,  "  Vants  to  keep  her  myself,  and  ven  I'z  in  a  hurry  I  don't  vate  for  de 
boys,  but  vill  sell  her  colt  in  de  barn."  The  parties  immediately  went  to  the 
barn,  and  the  call  resulted  in  the  purchase  of  the  colt  for  $550.  This  colt 
was  led  a  full  mile  over  the  Fashion  Course,  in  September  previous,  when 
two  past,  in  the  then  unequaled  time  of  3 :  053^. 

This  colt  was  kept  in  the  stud  by  Mr.  Grinnell  until  1849,  when  he  gave 
him  to  his  brother-in-law,  Henry  Holdrcdge,  of  New  York  City,  who  sold 
him  in  St.  Louis,  after  which  his  whereabouts  and  what-abouts  became 
unknown  to  the  subscriber. 

Owing  to  the  extravagant  price,  $25  to  insure  in  those  days,  for  this  section 
of  country,  and  to  the  irritable  temper  of  the  horse,  becoming  vicious  and 
unmanageable,  inflicting  an  injury  upon  one  of  his  grooms,  from  which  he 
afterward  died,  and  crippling  for  life  another,  he  was  meagerly  patronized, 
and  but  few  descendants  for  the  time  were  left  to  him.  But  in  this  region  he 
laid  the  foundation  upon  which  the  family  have  become  famous.  He  possessed 
the  excellent  power  of  transmitting  his  qualities,  his  shape,  his  color,  and 
his  striking  characteristics.  With  but  few  exceptions  they  all  wear  that  same 
diamond  on  the  nose,  and  all  exhibit  that  same  nervous  disposition,  ready  to 
resent  abuse,  but  when  properly  understood,  no  family  is  more  tractable  and 
afiectionate. 


king's  champion.  345 

He  left  four  entire  sons,  all  of  which  became  noted  in  the  stud,  viz.,  the 
Haley  horse.  Decker  horse.  Smith  horse,  and  the  Davis  horse,  named  after 
their  respective  breeders.  The  first  two  were  sold  about  the  same  time,  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  years  ago,  to  parties  in  Pennsylvania,  the  first  to  Crawford 
county,  and  the  second  one  to  Titusville,  and  there  died.  The  Smith  horse, 
the  most  promising  in  all  respects,  was  injured  for  trotting  purposes,  by  close 
confinement  when  young.  He  was  sold  some  years  ago  to  a  man  whose  name 
I  have  forgotten,  west  of  Rochester,  and  since  died.  Indeed  I  doubt  if  there 
be  a  living  son  or  daughter  to  him  to-day  in  this  country. 

king's  champion. 

The  last,  though  not  the  least,  as  it  has  turned  out,  was  bred  by  Jesse  M. 
Davis,  of  Union  Springs,  N.  Y.,  in  1848,  dam  by  Red  Bird.  He  became  dis- 
tinguished both  on  the  turf  and  in  the  stud.  He  was  victor  over  Long  Island, 
his  adversary  at  Waterloo,  in  1857,  I  think,  in  one  of  the  hardest  fought  battles 
that  I  ever  witnessed,  there  being  five  heats  trotted,  and  the  last  the  quickest. 

David  King,  of  Northville,  purchased  the  horse  for  $1,100.  Hence  the 
name  of  King  or  Davis  Champion.  He  was  used  by  him  in  the  stud  for 
several  years,  getting,  about  that  time  and  before,  the  famous  sire,  Gooding's 
Champion,  Sorrel  Dapper  (the  Auburn  horse),  Col.  Fisk,  Norwood,  Nellie, 
etc.  In  1861,  a  Mr.  Kellogg,  a  banker  of  Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  purchased 
him  for  a  road  horse,  consequently  but  few  mares  were  turned  to  him.  Among 
the  few  produced  were  Col.  Barnes,  Wild  Bill,  Night  Hawk,  Deception,  Lady 
Backus,  etc.  In  August,  1865,  immediately  after  Mr.  Bonner  bought  the 
Auburn  horse,  C.  T.  Backus,  Wm.  B.  and  C.  Schobey,  and  myself,  purchased 
by  telegraph  the  old  horse,  and  brought  him,  with  a  yearling  daughter  for 
company — afterwaj-d  Lady  Backus — back  to  the  land  of  his  nativity.  C. 
Schobey  soon  became  the  sole  owner  until  his  death,  in  May,  1874. 

King's  Champion,  as  he  is  generally  called,  was  foaled  in  1848,  or 
1849.  His  dam  was  by  Red  Bird.  This  Red  Bird  was  a  son  of 
Bishop's  Hambletonian,  and  his  dam  was  a  famous  mare  by  Red 
Bird,  son  of  Cub,  a  thoroughbred. 

Here  the  two  families  of  Mambrino  and  Hambletonian  unite  in 
this  King's  Champion,  and  his  success  in  the  stud  was  worthy  of  the 
union  of  the  two  great  lines  from  Messenger. 

He  went  to  Michigan,  as  stated,  in  1861,  and  was  returned  to 
New  York  about  four  years  thereafter.  While  in  Michigan,  King's 
Champion  produced  some  very  superior  stock,  among  them  the 
stallion  Night  Hawk,  that  has  also  been  sire  of  some  excellent  road- 
sters. He  also  was  sire  of  Lady  Kellogg,  a  mare  that  shows  the  true 
form  and  way  of  going  of  the  ChamjDions  to  perfection.  She  was 
very  strong  at  every  point,  and  had  as  good  a  hind  leg  and  thigh  as 
can  be  asked  in  a  trotter.  The  gait  of  this  family,  like  all  the  other 
branches  of  the  Champions,  was  marked,  and  not  to  be   mistaken  for 


346  THE   CHAMPIONS. 

any  other.  After  returning  to  the  State  of  New  York,  King's 
Champion  produced  Nettie  Burlew,  G.  B.  Daniels,  C.  B.  Myrtle, 
Buckskin,  and  other  noted  trotters. 

CEAWPORD   COUNTY   CHAMPION". 

This  was  a  chestnut  stallion,  foaled  1851.  He  was  by  Grinnell's 
Champion,  and  his  dam  was  a  Morgan  mare.  He  went  at  an  early 
age  to  Crawford  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  kept  for  several 
years.     He  since  died  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

His  stock  were  not  equal  to  the  other  Champions,  and  have  not 
been  known  to  turn  out  any  trotters  of  distinction.  It  is  not  a 
certain  success  to  unite  the  Morgan  and  the  strong  Messenger 
families,  although  by  such  union  great  results  have  been  sometimes 
achieved. 

wood's  champion. 

This  horse  was  by  Grinnell's  Champion,  dam  by  Red  Bird.  He  is 
a  chestnut,  and  was  foaled  in  1860.  He  was  brought  to  Illinois  and 
kept  for  awhile  in  Livingston  county,  and  afterward  sold  to  W.  J. 
Neely,  and  was  called  Neely's  Champion.  He  is  now  owned  by 
Jeremiah  Wood,  of  Ottawa,  111.  He  is  a  good  looking  horse,  fine 
size,  and  shows  good  quality.  His  stock  are  good  roadsters,  but  have 
not  yet  shown  great  speed. 

Grinnell's  Champion,  the  original,  was  sold  in  1859  to  Thos.  T. 
Smith,  of  Independence.  He  left  some  good  stock  in  Missouri, 
among  others  a  stallion  called  Almack,  from  a  mare  by  American 
Eclipse. 

NIGHT    HAWK. 

This  horse  was  by  King's  Champion,  and  was  foaled  about  the  year 
1862,  and  has  been  owned  by  J.  S.  Vankirk,  in  Michigan.  The 
blood  of  his  dam  was  unknown,  but  he  is  a  good  sire,  and  has  left 
some  good  roadsters  in  that  locality.     He  is  a  chestnut. 

He  has  one  son  also  called  Night  Hawk,  foaled  in  1865;  dam,  a 
mare  called  a  Bellfounder.  He  is  owned  by  Daniel  B.  Hibbard, 
Jackson,  Michigan.  ^ 

The  two  horses  are  yet  in  that  State;  they  are  producing  some  very 
elegant  roadsters,  mostly  chestnuts,  and  are  showing  the  gait  or 
way  of  going  which  distinguishes  the  family.  The  family  are  as 
clearly  marked  by  their  gait  or  way  of  going  as  by  their  adherence 
to  the  chestnut  color. 


A   MESSENGER.  347 


Gooding's  champion. 


King's  Champion,  as  stated  in  the  above  extract,  was  sire  of 
Gooding's  Champion,  now  owned  by  T.  W.  and  W.  Gooding, 
Canandaigua,   New  York.     He  is  a  bay  horse,  and  was  foaled  in  1854. 

The  dam  of  Gooding's  Champion  was  the  trotting  mare  Cynthia. 
Her  pedigree  is  given  as  follows:  By  Bartlett's  Turk,  by  Weddle's 
imported  Turk;  the  dam  of  Turk  by  Young  Diomed.  Cynthia's 
dam  was  Fanny,  by  Scoby's  Black  Prince.  Fanny's  dam  was  Bett, 
by  Rock  Planter,  son  of  Duroc.  Bett's  dam,  Kate,  a  Messenger 
mare,  from  Dutchess.  This  pedigree  may  be  all  correct,  but  I 
know  nothing  of  it,  and  can  shed  no  light  upon  it.  The  mare 
Cynthia  was  bred  by  Benjamin  Gould,  of  Cayuga  county,  New  York, 
and  this  pedigree  is  given  by  him. 

Gooding's  Champion  has  been  owned  by  Messrs.  Gooding  since 
18G9.  He  was  foaled  in  1854,  and  is  described  as  follows:  Fifteen 
hands  three  inches  high,  bright  bay,  with  black  legs,  mane  and  tail. 
He  is  a  horse  of  considerable  substance,  of  very  stylish  and  handsome 
appearance,  and  whose  make-up  will  bear  the  keenest  criticism.  His 
legs  and  feet  are  excellent,  tail  and  mane  are  heavy,  but  silky.  He  is 
very  intelligent,  perfectly  kind  and  tractable;  but,  withal,  he  is  of 
very  active  and  courageous  disposition,  and  this  may  have  in  part 
given  rise  to  the  belief  in  the  mind  of  his  first  owner,  that  he  was 
dangerous  and  uncontrollable. 

It  would  seem  that  all  of  this  family  were  true  Messengers  in  the 
matter  of  temper. 

The  following  extracts  from  another  contribution  to  'Wallace's 
Monthly  give  some  insight  into  the  history  of  Gooding's  Champion 
and  the  character  of  the  family: 

Gooding's  Champion  was  bred  by  Aylmer  Utt,  of  Springport,  Cayuga 
county,  who  regarded  Champion  much  as  people  regard  a  tiger — a  very  hand- 
some animal  wlien  in  a  cage.  He  was  kept  in  a  deserted  log  house  till  he 
was  nearly  nine  years  old,  and  during  this  time  only  got  two  colts,  so  far  as 
known.  He  was  only  an  ornament  to  the  "establishment  with  which  he  was 
connected,  his  owner  not  daring  to  .put  him  to  any  practical  use.  This 
inactivity  was  owing  to  the  fear  of  his  owner  and  not  to  any  viciousness  of 
the  horse;  for  he  is  perfectly  kind,  only  very  high  spirited.  It  is  very  much 
to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  fall  into  appreciative  hands  at  an  early  age,  as 
the  first  nine  years  of  his  life  we/e  a  great  loss  to  the  breeding  community. 
When  eleven  years  old,  it  is  reported,  he  trotted  his  first  and  only  race  at 
Springport,  getting  a  record  of  2:36.  He  was  sold,  when  nine  years  old,  to 
James  Stearns  and  D.  L.  Simmons,  in  the  neighborhood.    They  sent  him  to 


348  THE   CHAMPIONS. 

Canaudaigua  and  vicinity,  and  kept  him  for  breeding  purposes  at  a  cliarge  of 
$15,  btit  tliey  found  it  very  unrcmunerative  business.  It  was  at  Canandaigua 
that  he  got  St.  James,  Castle  Boy,  and  his  other  colts,  that  are  now  ten  and 
eleven  years  of  age.  In  1865  Stearns  &  Simmons  sold  him  to  Joseph  Call,  of 
Watkins,  and  he  remained  in  his  hands  at  Watkins  till  1869.  Mr.  G.  G.  Reed, 
of  Canandaigua,  then  purchased  him,  selling  him  shortly  after  to  the  Messrs. 
Gooding  for  $400,  which  is  the  largest  sum  he  ever  sold  for. 

Gooding's  Champion  possesses  wonderful  transmitting  powers,  equaled  by 
very  few  stallions,  and  his  Colts  inherit  his  nature  to  a  remarkable  degree. 
The  prevailing  color  of  his  get  is  bright  bay,  with  black  points,  though  there 
are  many  with  white  hind  feet.  Fifteen  and  one-half,  and  fifteen  and  three- 
fourths  han.ds  is  the  usual  height. 

The  amble  is  a  natural  gait  to  very  many  of  his  progeny,  indeed  there  are 
few  who  strike  a  trot  without  first  going  into  an  amble.  They  have  great 
powers  of  endurance  coupled  to  great  speed,  are  very  intelligent,  and  quickly 
broken  and  trained,  thoiigh  not  so  precocious  as  some  other  families.  During 
the  past  five  years  Champion  has  had  many  very  well  bred  mares  sent  to  him 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  has  got  from  fortytoeightycolts  per  annum, 
at  a  service  fee  of  $100. 

Reference  has  been  made  in  the  foregoing  list  of  the  produce  of 
King's  Champion  to  the  horse  called  the  Auburn  horse.  This  horse 
was  a  true  representative  of  the  Champion  family,  although  little  is 
known  of  him  on  the  turf.  He  passed  into  the  hands  of  Robert 
Bonner  at  an  early  day,  and  was  one  of  those  horses  greatly  prized  by 
that  gentleman.  It  is  well  known  that  he  did  not  sj^end  either  money, 
time  or  space  on  any  that  were  not  in  reality  great  ones.  Owning,  as 
he  did,  Dexter,  Startle,  Grafton,  Joe  Elliott,  Wellesley  Boy,  Music, 
Lady  Stout,  and  a  list  of  the  greatest  and  best  ever  known  in 
this  country,  it  may  be  asserted  that  a  horse  that  could  be  held  in 
estimation  alongside  of  Dexter,  was  in  reality  a  great  horse.  He  died 
in  1868,  but  in  the  palmy  days  of  Hiram  "Woodruff,  the  veteran 
trainer,  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  trotters  in  this  country. 
Hiram  Woodruff  said  that  he  rode  faster  behind  him  than  he  ever 
rode  behind  any  horse.  He  came  in  one  evening  after  a  ride  behind 
Auburn,  and  was  in  an  ecstacy  over  what  he  had  witnessed.  He  set 
his  whole  place  in  commotion  over  his  remarkable  performance. 
Several  others  had  witnessed  it,  and  Hiram  exhibited  him  to  Mr. 
Bonner  and  a  crowd  of  admirers,  as  "  the  best  balanced  big  horse  in 
America."  Mr.  Bonner  said  to  him,  "Now,  Hiram,  you  rode  at  the 
rate  of  two  minutes  to  the  mile  behind  Peerless,  for  a  quarter;  do  you 
mean  to  say  that  you  rode  faster  behind  the  Auburn  horse  than  behind 


AUBUllN   HORSE.  341> 

the  grey  mare ?  "  He  answered,  "  Faster  than  behind  the  grey  mare? 
faster  than  I  ever  rode  behind  any  horse." 

This  was  before  Dexter  had  reached  his  fastest  time,  and  Hiram  was 
of  opinion  that  Auburn  was  good  for  2:18.  I  extract  the  following 
from  his  Trotting  Horse  of  America  : 

"I  had  a  horse  in  my  stable  late  last  fall  that  I  am  satisfied  was  then  as  fast 
as  Dexter;  and  I  think  it  quite  likely  that  he  was  a  little  faster.  I  allude  to 
Mr.  Bonner's  big  chestnut  gelding,  the  Auburn  horse.  He  certainly  carried 
me  faster  than  I  had  ever  before  ridden  behind  a  trotter,  and  he  went  away 
from  Lady  Thorn  with  the  greatest  ease.  The  Auburn  horse  had  just  come 
right,  and  got  to  feeling  well,  after  having  been  out  of  sorts  for  some  time. 
His  speed  and  resolute  way  of  going  had  soon  made  a  strong  impression  upon 
my  mind ;  and  I  told  my  friends,  Oliver  Marshall  and  Foster,  that  if  I  could 
have  him  to  trot  a  race  I  thought  I  could  jDut  a  mark  up  so  high  that  it  would 
take  a  long  time  to  wipe  it  out.  That  is  my  opinion,  and  the  readers  of  this 
work  have  a  right  to  know  it.  Yet  it  does  not  follow  that  the  Auburn  horse 
is  equal  to  Dexter,  though  he  might  trot  a  mile  in  harness  faster.  *  * 

There  is  no  reason  why  I  should  not  say  here  what  I  have  already  said  to  some 
of  my  friends :  therefore  I  give  it  as  my  opinion,  that  when  the  Auburn  horse 
is  all  right,  I  can  drive  him  a  mile  in  2 :18  in  harness.  This  would  win  a  heat 
from  Dexter,  I  think,  but  it  would  not  win  a  race ;  and  if  the  Auburn  horse 
came  back  much  in  the  second  or  third  heat,  the  little  one  would  probably 
split  the  heats,  and  finally  win  the  race.  Of  course  this  is  all  speculation,  as 
Mr.  Bonner  will  not  trot  any  of  his  horses  in  a  race ;  but  having  had  both  the 
horses,  and  having  driven  them  on  various  occasions  when  they  were  both 
feeling  fine  and  trotting  very  fast,  I  have  formed  the  opinion  that  the  Auburn 
horse  can  trot  as  fast  in  harness  as  Dexter  himself  can." 

The  inclination  of  the  family  to  amble  has  been  above  referred  to. 
I  may  state  in  this  connection  that  Lady  Kellogg,  daughter  of  King's 
Champion,  a  mare  that  has  trotted  in  3:27,  has  raised  a  colt  by 
Argonaut,  that  in  colthood  was  a  natural  pacer — the  only  one  of  that 
way  of  going  to  his  credit  at  that  date,  although  he  has  had  one  since. 

The  Champions  appear  to  be  a  very  evenly  sized  family  of  horses — 
generally  about  15f  hands,  bvit  very  strong.  Some  of  them  show 
much  coarse  make-up,  and  are  very  rough  about  the  head,  but  in  form, 
color,  in  the  general  conformation,  and  in  the  manner  of  going  at  trot- 
ting speed,  they  are  very  much  alike. 

I  have  not  seen  so  much  uniformity  in  many  other  familic  s. 

The  gait  of  the  Chaiiipions  is  a  little  like  the  Abdallahs  and  a 
little  like  the  Clay  gait.  They  extend  their  feet  backward,  and 
trail  them  out  in  the  rear,  but  do  not  go  with  that  unbending 
appearance  of  the  legs,  and  with  that  springy  elasticity  which  marks 
the  Abdallah  gait.     They   make   more    display   of  vigor  and  energy 


350  THE   CHAMPIONS. 

in  motion,  but  lack  the  ease  and  frictionless  manner  of  the  Abdallah. 
They  go  with  great  display  of  power,  and  they  are  real  trotters. 
They  have  the  trotting  impulse  or  instinct  in  high  degree.  The 
family  has  attained  to  great  distinction  on  the  trotting  turf. 

King's  Champion,  son  of  Grinnell's  Champion,  produced  Nettie 
Burlew,  with  a  record  of  2:24,  and  four  heats  in  2:30  or  better; 
George  B.  Daniels,  2:24,  and  eight  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Charley 
B.,  Col.  Barnes  and  Sorrel  Dapper,  (or  Auburn  horse),  each  with  a 
sino-le  heat  and  a  record  of  2:28^. 

Gooding's  Champion  has  to  his  credit  Castle  Boy,  2:21,  and 
nineteen  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  St.  James,  2:23:^,  and  forty-two 
heats;  York  State,  2:23:^,  and  five  heats;  Chauncey  M.  Bedle,  2:24, 
and  Eva,  2:25^,  and  eight  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

The  dam  of  Castle  Boy  was  a  Morgan  mare  of  good  breeding. 
The  dam  of  York  State  was  a  common  mare  of  no  breeding.  The 
dam  of  St.  James  was  a  very  small  mare,  called  by  some  a  pony,  but 
a  mare  of  ffreat  endurance. 

Matt  Tanner,  by  Gooding's  Champion,  is  from  a  Morgan  mare,  and 
has  a  record  of  2:31f ;  made  in  winning  the  last  three  of  a  race  of 
six  heats. 

Belle  Cleveland  has  a  record  of  2:33^. 

Geneva,  from  a  Morgan  mare,  has  a  record  of  2:42. 

Zeppo,  from  a  mare  by  Old  Henry  Clay,  has  shown  a  mile,  as 
stated,  in  2:24,  but  his  record  is  2:504-. 

Montour  Maid  has  a  record  of  2:35. 

SONS  OF  Gooding's  champion. 

Tim  Gooding,  bay  stalHon,  five  years  old,  dam  Queen  Anne. 
Queen  Anne,  by  Fashion  Clay,  son  of  Henry  Clay,  second  dam  by 
King's  Champion.     This  should  be  a  Champion. 

Mambrino  Champion,  a  bay,  live  years  old,  dam  by  Ericsson, 
by  Mambrino  Chief;  said  to  be  a  handsome  horse.  Just  here  I 
may  say  that  the  Ericssons,  of  all  the  family  of  Mambrino  Chief, 
resembled  in  gait  the  Champion  family  the  most.  I  should  commend 
the  breeding  of  this  last  colt  without  seeing  him. 


CHAPTEE  XYIII. 

THE  ROYAL  GEORGES. 

This  is  a  family  of  great  distinction  and  merit,  but  one  whose 
derivation  is  involved  in  some  doubt,  and  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  pre- 
sent their  history  and  composition  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  They 
are  not  one  of  the  oldest  families  of  trotters,  yet  they  are  somewhat 
widely  scattered,  and  having  displayed  a  very  creditable  degree  of 
speed,  and  being  noted  for  good  size  and  general  soundness,  they  have 
many  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  They  originated  in  Canada, 
but  have  been  introduced  into  the  United  States  mainly  from  the 
vicinity  of  Buffalo,  and  now  have  representatives  in  all  parts  of  the 
land.  In  color  they  are  blacks,  bays  and  chestnuts,  in  some  branches 
mostly  blacks,  but  in  some  recent  families  many  chestnuts  are 
appearing. 

The  paternity  of  this  family  traces  to  a  black  horse  called  Tippoo, 
foaled  about  the  year  1817.  Inasmuch  as  Messenger  had  a  son  named 
Tippoo  Saib,  foaled  1795,  and  raised  and  kept  on  Long  Island  and 
parts  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  the  name  Tippoo  is  of  itself 
suggestive  of  that  blood,  although  there  is  nothing  indicating  any 
tracing  to  Tippoo  Saib. 

This  Tippoo  was  foaled  at  or  in  the  vicinity  of  Belleville,  in  Canada 
West,  and  the  only  history  we  have  relating  to  him  is,  that  a  citizen 
of  Belleville  traded  for  a  brown  mare  in  Lewis  county.  New  York,  in 
the  winter  of  1817.  The  mare  was  in  foal  by  ahorse  that  stood  at  the 
time  at  Lowville  in  that  part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  a  horse 
that  was  reputed  at  the  time  to  be  be  one  of  great  excellence.  She 
dropped  a  foal  in  the  spring,  and  he  grew  to  be  the  black  stallion 
Tippoo. 

The  current  history  of  the  period  leaves  little  doubt  that  the  sire 
of  Tippoo  was  Ogden's  Messenger,  son  of  imported  Messenger;  dam 
Katy  Fisher  by  imported  Highflyer;  grandam  an  imported  mare  and 
23  (351) 


353  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

a  tlioroug-hbrcd.  This  horse  Highflyer,  sire  of  the  dam  of  Ogflon's 
Messenger,  was  by  Highfl^'er,  a  noted  English  stallion,  and  his  dam 
was  by  Gimcrack,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  English  horses — referred 
to  in  my  sketch  of  Duroc  in  Chapter  V. 

I  have  called  attention  to  the  peculiarities  of  Duroc  tracing  to 
Gimcrack,  and  while  the  light  that  leads  us  to  connect  Tippoo  and  the 
Royal  Georges  with  Ogden's  Messenger  is  a  dim  and  feeble  ray,  one 
of  its  strong  internal  supports  is  found  in  the  conformation  and  way  of 
going  of  the  family  of  Royal  Georges,  as  compared  with  other  trotting 
families  of  Messeno-er  and  other  descent. 

Ogden's  Messenger  was  bred  by  Mr.  H.  N.  Cruger,  of  New  Jersey, 
and  was  foaled  in  1806.  He  was  a  grey  horse,  and  was  sold  when 
three  vears  old  to  Judg-e  David  A.  Offden.  He  is  described  as  a 
"coarse  pattern  of  a  fine  horse,  with  marked  traits  of  his  lineage."' 
This  is  a  description  that  would  apply  to  all  the  sons  of  Messenger. 
Like««all  of  that  family  he  was  a  big-jointed,  overgrown,  and  apparently 
immature  young  horse.  They  all  seemed  to  ripen  up  late,  and  did 
not  grow  into  esteem  very  young.  As  a  family  they  only  began  to  be 
valued  when  the  stallions  that  produced  them  were  old  horses.  It 
must  be  conceded  that  if  they  were  slow  to  begin,  they  have  main- 
tained popular  favor  for  a  good  while.  When  this  horse  was  four 
years  old,  Judge  Ogden  sent  him  to  a  farm  he  owned  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence river,  and  after  he  had  been  there  vmtil  about  the  year  1815  or 
1816  he  was  taken  to  Lowville,  in  Lewis  county,  and  made  several 
seasons  there.  He  was  at  Lowville  in  183  6,  and  the  popular  stallion,, 
with  little  measure  of  doubt,  from  which  the  colt  Tippoo  came.  Coin- 
cidence of  time,  place  and  the  precise  blood  qualities  found,  and  which 
can  not  readily  be  accounted  for  elsewhere  or  ascribed  to  other  origin, 
are  a  class  of  evidences  that  have  great  weight  and  must  often  be 
resorted  to  in  questions  of  horse  lineage.  The  origin  of  Amazonia 
and  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief,  necessarily  and  rightfully  rest 
on  evidences  of  this  character,  but  they  carry  great  weight. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  this  matter  of  relationship  is  not  clearly 
established  and  can  not  probably  ever  be  settled  in  the  case  now 
under  consideration  with  any  more  certainty  or  satisfaction  than  in 
either  of  the  two  other  cases  above  referred  to,  but  the  conclusion  has 
been  very  generally  reached  and  accepted  among  American  breeders, 
and  more  generally  by  those  in  Canada,  that  Tippoo  was  a.  son  of 
Ogden's  Messenger. 

We  do  not  learn  that  he  was  anything  of  a  great  trotter,   or  so 


BLACK   WAERIOR.  *  353 

recognized  in  his  own  day,  but  we  must  remember  that  Ogden's 
Messenger  was  a  thoroughbred,  and  from  that  fact  would  be  one  of  the 
sons  of  Messenger  whose  trotting  instinct  would  not  amount  to  a  para- 
mount trait,  and  his  impress  on  his  offspring  would  not  be  demonstra- 
tive of  great  trotting  quality — but  the  character  was  there,  and  would 
come  out  when  road  use  or  road  crosses  had  so  far  eliminated  the 
trotting  quality  from  the  racing  or  gallojDing  inclination  as  to  make 
the  latter  subordinate  to  the  former.  This  was  the  case  with  all  of  his 
sons.  Harris'  Hambletonian  and  Abdallah,  the  grandsons,  were  the 
great  trotting  sires — far  surpassing  the  sons  of  Messenger. 

Black  Warrior  was  by  Tippoo,  and  was  foaled  about  the  year  1830, 
and  his  dam  was  a  black  mare,  owned  by  a  British  officer  in  the  regi- 
ment known  as  the  First  Royals,  stationed  at  Kingston,  Canada  West. 
The  mare  was  familiarly  known  as  the  "  Warrior  Mare,"  hence  the 
colt  was  called  Black  Warrior,  although  he  was  more  of  a  brown  than 
a  black. 

He  was  foaled  at  Belleville,  Canada  West,  and  was  owned  by  a  Mr. 
Johnson.  The  owner  started  to  remove  to  Michigan,  and  the  stallion 
becoming  lame  on  the  way,  he  was  traded  to  a  Mr.  Barnes,  twenty 
miles  south  of  London,  Canada  West,  who  kept  him  until  his  death. 
Much  of  his  stock  of  the  present  day  has  descended  from  animals 
bred  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  The  family  of  Warriors  m  that 
vicinity  has  been  one  embracing  numerous  members. 

In  his  home,  near  London,  he  produced  Royal  George,  and  he  in 
turn,  in  the  same  vicinity,  produced  McGregor  Warrior,  the  sire  of 
Panic;  and  the  Panics,  two  or  more,  were  bred  in  the  vicinity  of  that 
place. 

Warrior  was  a  strong  and  well  formed  horse,  fifteen  hands  three 
inches  high,  and  most  of  the  family  are  of  that  size,  and  many  are  one 
to  two  inches  higher.  They  all  show  such  a  ready  inclination  for  the 
trotting  or  the  pacing  gait  as  leaves  it  certain  that  the  germ  of  the 
trotting  family  \vas  there,  whatever  augmentation  the  impulse  may  have 
received  in  later  branches  of  the  family.  They  are  noted  for  a  strong 
and  very  striking  family  resemblance. 

EOTAI.   GEORGE. 

This  stallion,  a  brown  horse,  which  has  given  name  to  so  large  a 
family,  was  foaled  some  time  after  the  year  1840.  He  was  bred  by 
Mr.  Barnes,  who  was  the  owner  of  Black  Warrior,  near  London,  Can- 
ada West. 


354  '  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

His  dam  was  a  mare  that  doubtless  brouo-ht  a  reinforcement  of  the 
trotting  blood,  and  whose  history  excites  the  belief  that  she  had  even 
as  good  a  share  of  true  Sampson  trotting  blood  as  the  horse  Tippoo, 
or  his  son  Warrior.  It  is  certain  that  in  Royal  George  the  strength 
and  quality  of  the  trotting  impulse  M'as  greatly  augmented. 

The  dam  of  Royal  George  was  a  dark  bay  mare,  brought  from 
Middlebviry,  Vt.,  by  a  Mr.  Billington,  and  sold  to  Mr.  Barnes,  and 
was  said  to  be  by  a  horse  called  the  "  Bristol  Horse."  The  horse  well 
known  in  Vermont  as  "  Bristol  Horse "  and  "  Bristol  Grey,"  was 
the  Harris  Hambletonian,  hence  foundation  has  been  laid  for  the  sup- 
position, and  with  many  the  belief,  that  the  dam  of  Royal  George 
was  a  daughter  of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  the  great  trotting  sire  of 
Vermont.  It  is  apparent  that  we  have  nothing  more  than  certain 
general  facts  to  deal  with,  and  these  do  not  furnish  clear  or  j^ositive 
or  really  any  absolute  proof  upon  which  we  can  found  anything  more 
than  a  supposition.  If  in  the  blood  traits  of  the  families  descending 
from  this  union,  we  find  traits  and  qualities  that  belonged  to  the  Harris 
Hambletonian  and  the  Ogden  Messenger  families,  then  indeed  are 
we  furnished  with  powerful  corroboration  of  the  evidences  already 
presented  in  the  vague  and  dim  thread  of  history  that  follows  the 
family. 

It  is  clear,  as  before  stated,  that  in  Royal  George  the  trot- 
ting quality  of  the  family  was  greatly  advanced,  and  this  is  taken  as 
a  proof  that  the  dam  was  a  mare  of  Messenger  blood,  and  from  the 
coincident  names,  a  daughter  of  Harris'  Hambletonian.  But  upon 
this  it  must  be  remarked,  that  the  gait  of  the  Royal  Geoi-ges  is  not 
the  gait  of  those  descended  from  Harris'  Hambletonian,  and  the  diifer- 
ence  is  a  clearly  marked  one.  The  trotters  of  the  Harris  Hamble- 
tonian type  pick  up  their  hind  feet  squarely,  and  with  a  folding  of  the 
members — all  the  muscles  seemingly  being  called  into  action  with 
vigor  and  energy — but  in  close  compass.  The  hind  feet  are  advanced 
squarely  under  the  side — not  reaching  far  forward  or  extending  far 
backward.  They  are  sent  forward  more  by  their  vigor  of  action  than 
the  apparent  long  reach  of  the  rear  extremities. 

The  very  opposite  gait  characterizes  the  Royal  Georges.  They 
do  not  seem  to  trail  their  hocks  or  hind  feet  out  far  behind  them,  'but 
they  do  swing  them  around  to  the  front,  outside  of,  and  in  advance 
of  the  fore  feet,  with  a  very  long  forward  reach.  They  seem  to  grab 
for  a  good  deal  of  ground  witli  their  rear  propellers.  The  action  of 
the    Royal    Georges   is   in   some    degree   similar   to   that   of    those 


THEIR    GAIT.  35.") 

members  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  family  descended  from  Mrs.  Caudle, 
although  modified,  of  course,  by  the  Duroc-Messenger  method  of  the 
Chief's  family.  It  is  one  that  is  suggestive  of  a  longer  member  than 
that  employed  by  the  other  Messenger  families.  The  Royal  Georges 
show  a  rather  straight,  unbending  leverage,  while  the  Harris  Ham- 
bletonians  display  a  shorter  range  of  machinery,  but  a  muscular 
control  over  it,  exceedingly  vigorous,  and  precise  in  its  movement. 

On  a  recent  occasion,  I  was  speaking  with  an  Orange  county 
horseman,  very  well  known,  and  one  who  knows  the  gaits  of  that 
region,  and  I  called  his  attention  to  the  matter  of  gait  of  a  noted 
trotter  of  the  Royal  George  family,  and  he  replied,  "  he  is  Star 
gaited — that  is  it  exactly — he  goes  very  wide  apart."  This  incident 
illustrated  my  views  quite  well.  The  Royal  Georges  are  not  Star 
gaited  any  more  than  the  Mambrino  Chiefs  are,  but  there  is  a  degree 
of  similarity. 

These  observations,  however,  do  not  necessarily  interfere  with  the 
supposition  that  the  dam  of  Royal  George  may  have  been  a 
daughter  of  Harris'  Hambletonian. 

The  sire  Tippoo,  if  a  son  of  Ogden's  Messenger,  may  have  in- 
herited a  physical  conformation,  tracing  back  to  Gimcrack,  which 
worked  a  modification  of  his  Messenger  anatomy  as  clear  and 
unmistakable  as  that  which  Duroc  derived  from  the  same  original, 
and  which,  in  the  two  bloods  of  Messenger  and  Diomed,  may  have 
worked  out  in  the  very  ways  respectively  seen  in  the  Duroc  descend- 
ants, and  in  the  Royal  Georges  of  the  present  day.  An  increase  of 
leverage  has  been  the  undoubted  product  of  that  blood,  and  its 
origin  was  most  probably  with  the  grey  racer  Gimcrack. 

When  Royal  George  was  about  four  years  old,  he  was  sold  by  Mr. 
Barnes  to  James  Forshee,  and  was  known  as  the  "Forshee  Horse" 
for  several  years.  He  then  was  sold  to  one  Frank  Munger,  and  from 
Munger  he  was  sold  to  one  Dougherty,  of  Caledonia.  By  Dougherty 
his  name  was  changed  to  that  of  "  Royal  George,"  and  by  that  he  and 
his  family  are  known  to  this  day.  In  December,  1858,  he  was  sold 
to  W.  H.  Ashford,  of  Bufiklo,  and  was  kept  at  Buifalo  and  Lewiston. 
He  died  in  18G1  at  St.  Catherines,  Canada  West.  He  was  a  large 
horse,  sixteen  hands  high,  and  of  great  substance,  remarkable  for 
great  vigor  of  action ;  long  of  limb,  deep  through  the  heart  place 
and  forequarter,  a  little  like  the  pacing  stock,  and  when  starting  off, 
he  and  his  family  often  pace,  but  when  they  strike  a  trot  they  do  it 
with  a  big  swing  of  the  hind  feet,  a  wide  spreading  gait,  and  a  long 


356  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

forward  reach  of  the  hind  foot,  their  great  and  powerful  bodies  and 
frames  advancing  with  wonderful  force  and  energy.  He  never  was 
trained  for  speed,  but  had  enough  to  beat  State  of  Maine,  He  left 
many  trotters  and  roadsters  strongly  and  distinctively  marked  in 
type  like  himself. 

TOEONTO   CHIEF. 

One  of  the  earliest  sons  of  Royal  George,  was  Toronto  Chief,  foaled 
1851,  while  Royal  George  was  in  Canada,  in  the  vicinity  of  London. 
He  was  a  brown  horse,  his  dam  a  small  brown  mare  by  Blackwood, 
a  son  of  the  original  Blackwood,  also  called  Coeur-de-Lion,  a  horse 
and  a  name  very  familiar  in  the  vicinity  of  London,  Canada  West. 

Toronto  Chief  was  bred  by  George  Larue,  of  Middlesex  county, 
Ontario,  and  after  several  transfers  was  finally  owned  by  Alexander 
Bathgate,  of  Westchester  county.  New  York.  He  was  a  successful 
sire  and  a  trotter  of  distinction.  He  proved  his  trotting  qualities  by 
his  public  record,  his  best  race  being  on  Fashion  Course,  in  October, 
1865,  under  saddle,  when  he  beat  Commodore  Vanderbilt  in  three 
straight  heats,  in  2:25^,  2:24f,  2:24^.  He  was  the  first  horse  that  ever 
trotted  a  half  mile  in  1:08-2-. 

He  is  the  sire  of  Rapid  and  Soubrette,  and  he  produced  Toronto 
Chief  Jr.,  a  brown  horse — dam  by  Royal  George. 

He  also  produced  Toronto,  a  brown  horse,  foaled  1861.  His  dam 
was  Mealymouth,  a  mare  of  unknown  blood. 

He  produced  Toronto  Sontag,  or  Genl.  Wooster,  from  old  Sontag 
by  Harris'  Hambletonian.  He  was  foaled  in  1859,  and  was  owned  in 
Connecticut. 

THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

His  most  distinguished  son  is  Thomas  Jefferson,  one  of  the  first 
trotting  stallions  of  our  day.  He  was  foaled  in  1863,  and  his  dam  was 
the  celebrated  mare  Gipsy  Queen,  by  Wagner,  her  dam  by  imported 
Glencoe.  This  is  the  pedigree  given,  although  it  is  involved  in  much 
doubt. 

She  was  bred  in  Tennessee,  and  was  at  one  time  owned  and  driven 
by  Alfred  Spink,  a  well  known  Chicago  gentleman. 

She  commenced  her  trotting  career  at  Chicago,  in  1856,  when  she 
trotted  mile  heats  and  was  beaten  by  the  chestnut  gelding,  Henry 
Clay,  and  some  days  after  she  won  a  ten-mile  race  in  31:05,  beating 
Olive  Rose.  She  trotted  mile  heats  in  2:44,  and  trotted  a  dead  head 
with  Capt.  McGowan,  of  ten  miles  in  28:39,  according  to  a  statement 


THOMAS   JEFFERSOlSr.  357 

that  appeared  in  the  public  journals.  She  was  a  mare  of  wonderful 
game  and  bottom.  She  could  not  trot  a  mile  in  better  than  2:35,  per- 
haps, but  she  could  go  through  a  ten -mile  race  and  come  out  in  the 
best  of  style. 

She  was  also  owned  by  W.  B.  Smith,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  the  owner 
of  the  stallion  Thomas  Jefferson.  This  horse  is  sometimes  called 
*'  Black  Whirlwind."  He  has  been  on  the  turf  for  several  years,  and 
has  trotted  against  Joe  Brown,  Pilot  Temple,  Smuggler,  Mambrino 
Gift,  Phil  Sheridan,  Commonwealth,  Myron  Perry,  George  Wilkes, 
Harry  W.  Genet,  and  many  of  the  most  famous  trotters  of  our  day. 
He  has  distanced  Smuggler,  Pilot  Temple  and  Joe  Brown.  He  has  a 
record  of  2:235-,  and  thirty -nine  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

He  trotted  four  races  in  1869,  and  won  two  of  them.  In  1870  he 
trotted  fourteen  races,  and  won  twelve.  In  1871  he  trotted  nine  races, 
and  won  five.  In  three  years  he  trotted  twenty-seven  races,  and 
won  nineteen,  and  over  nine  thousand  dollars  in  money,  and  was  in 
the  stud  to  some  extent  all  of  those  years. 

His  own  achievements  have  been  sufficient  to  confer  distinction  on 
his  family.  I  have  not  the  means  at  hand  to  enable  me  to  give  the 
number  of  races  he  has  trotted,  but  there  are  few  horses  on  the  turf 
that  have  equaled  the  number. 

Moreover,  he  was  an  early  trotter,  and  this  to  some  degree  is  a 
characteristic  of  the  Royal  George  family.  He  trotted  as  a  two-year- 
old  in  3:24;  at  three  years,  in  2:48;  at  four  years,  in  2:36;  at  six,  in 
2:33;  at  seven,  in  2:29f ;  at  eight,  two  heats,  in  2:25|^. 

The  above  performances  were  record  races,  and  it  gave  clear  assur- 
ance that  such  was  his  capacity.  This  is  another  proof  of  consan- 
guinity in  the  same  blood  whence  Duroc  came. 

Thomas  Jefferson  has  a  son  called  Thomas  Jefferson  Jr.,  that  trotted 
races,  and  won  as  a  three-year-old,  in  2:50^,  2:46:^,  2:39f,  2:44.    These 
were  trotted  in  the  spring  of  the  year. 
■     Few  stallions  can  show  such  a  record. 

Thomas  Jefferson  is  a  black  horse,  with  a  small  star,  but  is  not  quite 
so  large  as  his  family  usually  run.  He  stands  fifteen  hands  one  inch 
high,  and  is  one-half  inch  higher  behind.  He  is  a  very  powerful 
horse,  strong  in  every  part.  He  is  an  impressive  sire — a  trait  that 
follows  the  Royal  George  family  of  stallions.  His  colts  produced  by 
him  when  he  was  three  years  old,  show  the  high  trotting  character  of 
the  family  quite  as  positively  as  those  produced  in  later  years.  I 
regret  that  I  have  not  a  list  of  his  sons. 


358  THE    ROYAL   GEORGES. 

Toronto  Chief,  the  sire  of  this  stallion,  also  produced  Royal  Revenge, 
the  sire  of  Fred  Hooper,  with  record  of  2:23,  and  thirty-two  heats  in 
2:30  or  better;  and  J.  Ellis,  2:29.  Another  son  was  sire  of  Buzz,  a 
brown  colt  four  years  old,  with  a  record  of  2:28|^. 

field's    royal    GEORGE. 

This  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  sons  of  Royal 
George.  He  was  foaled  in  1853,  and  was  a  chestnut.  He  was  bred  by 
Geo.  McKinley,  of  Oakville,  Canada  "West.  His  dam  was  the  Erin 
mare,  by  Erin;  said  to  be  son  of  Henry,  grandam  by  Grand  Turk. 
This  is  a  Canadian  pedigree  with  which  1  am  not  familiar.  He  was 
a  large  and  elegant  horse,  on  the  model  of  his  sire,  for  strength  and 
way  of  going. 

He  has  been  a  successful  sire,  and  has  left,  among  others,  Royal 
George,  a  chestnut,  foaled  1861;  dam  said  to  be  a  good  mare  of  Duroc 
and  Messenger  blood.  He  was  owned  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Campbell,  of  Alt. 
Morris,  New  York.     He  is  dead,  but  has  left  some  valuable  stock. 

Field's  Royal  George  is  also  the  sire  of 

HOWE's   royal   GEORGE, 

A  chestnut  stallion,  foaled  1858;  dam  a  chestnut  mare  by  Smith's 
Flying  Childers.  Bred  in  Canada,  and  owned  by  Wm.  Howe.  He 
died  in  the  fall  of  1805.  He  was  sire  of  Caledonia  Chief,  a  chestnut 
horse,  with  a  record  of  2:29-^,  and  two  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

BYROX. 

Field's  Royal  George  was  also  sire  of  the  chestnut  stallion,  Byron, 
one  of  the  representative  horses  of  the  Royal  George  family.  Byron 
was  bred  in  the  vicinity  of  Buifalo,  and  was  foaled  1864:.  He  is  a 
rich  chestnut  in  color,  with  a  left  hind  foot  white,  and  a  small  star 
in  his  forehead.  He  is  sixteen  hands  high,  strong,  and  well  formed 
in  every  part.  He  has  a  nice  mane,  and  a  fair  tail  not  very  heavy, 
clean  and  sound  limbs  and  feet.  He  is  a  trotter  of  the  Royal  George 
pattern,  and  one  of  the  finest  representatives  of  that  family  yet 
produced.  His  career  as  a  trotter  has  placed  him  not  only  in  the 
front  rank  of  his  own  family,  but  high  on  the  roll  of  great  trotting 
stallions.  With  a  record  of  2:25^,  and  fourteen  heats  in  2:30  or 
better,  his  name  stands  on  the  same  roll  with  Gov.  Sprague,  Voltaire, 
Thorndale,  Joe  Brown,  Thomas  Jefferson,  AUie  West  and  Sam. 
Purdy,  as  one  of  the  representative  stallions  of  the  period  in  which 
he  lives,  and  if  the  pedigree  of  his  dam  was  clearly  known,  it  may 


i-ja;'fS,-:.V."t;,-^;---,.-^-'-'  i-rS  ;  I   '    ll  ||II  ii|'l|l|imi— ll«IWi_H|i|l|l>ll|i| 


a 


^ 


BYRON".  359 

be  that  in  his  pedigree  he  would  oariy  a  guarantee  for  success  as  a 
stallion  not  surpassed  by  any  now  before  the  country.  But  in  the 
matter  of  certain  and  clearly  authenticated  pedigree  he  belongs  to  a 
family  that  have  not,  thus  far,  been  peculiarly  fortunate.  That  of  his 
dam  is  involved  in  as  much  doubt  as  any  part  of  this  uncertain  yet 
interesting  historical  sketch,  each  cloud,  however,  with  the  same 
silver  linino-s  that  have  characterized  the  orig-in  of  each  of  the 
preceding  members.  His  dam  was  the  O'Brien  mare,  a  very  famous 
and  superior  trotting  mare,  and  one  also  distinguished  b}^  the  success 
of  her  own  produce,  and  those  descended  from  her  even  in  the  second 
generation. 

Her  pedigree  is  at  present  unknown,  and  the  efforts  to  find  it  have 
brought  to  light  some  faint  traces  that  point  to  the  fact  that  her  sire 
was  Harris'  Hambletonian.  If  such  fact  should  be  authenticated,  it 
would  afford  a  guarantee  that  Byron  was  one  of  the  best  bred 
trotting  stallions  the  country  now  possesses. 

The  rear  leverage  of  Byron  shows  him  to  be  a  horse  of  great 
sweep  and  stride.  He  is  40^  inches  from  centre  of  hip  to  outer  edge 
of  hock,  and  his  thigh  is  24  inches  long. 

I  cut  the  following  scrap  from  a  turf  paper  of  very  recent  date: 

Byron  has  trotted  and  won  the  following  races : 

At  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  10,  1871,  he  got  a  record  of  2:25i^;  at  Fredouia, 
N.  Y.,  June  3,  1871,  he  beat  Black  Mack  and  Cattaraugus  Chief— 3 :26i4',  3 :31M. 
3:39;  at  Cleveland,  O.,  he  beat  Mathew  Smith,  Morrissey,  Annie  Watson  and 
Fero,  in  3:353^,  3:333:£,  0:00,  3:35;  at  Hamilton,  Ont.,  July  1st,  he  beat  Lady 
Hamilton  and  Capt.  Tom— 3  -.35%,  2: 35,  2  :SQi^i2  ;  at  Buffalo,  July  39th,  for  a 
purse  of  $1,000,  he  won  in  four  heats,  beating  Molly,  Ed.  Forrest,  Independ- 
ence, Albatross  and  Sappho,  in  2:31 1^,  3:39i/^,  3:28,3:^,  3:811^;  at  Sharon,  Pa., 
Sept.  33d,  for  a  purse  of  $100,  he  beat  Captain,  in  3  -AOJi,  3 :40,  2 :37^ ;  at 
Sharon,  Pa.,  Sept.  23d,  for  a  purse  of  $300,  Byron  won  in  straight  heats,  beat- 
ing Captain,  Sally,  Dictator  and  Grey  John- 2:35,  2:37,  3:38i3  ;  at  Zanesville, 
O.,  for  a  purse  of  $500,  on  Oct.  19th,  he  beat  Independence,  Dictator  and 
Annie  Collins— 3 :34>^,  2:36,  2:33i^;  at  Toronto,  Can.,  Sept.  10,  1872,  purse  of 
$500,  he  beat  Derby,  J.  Ellis  and  Hornet— 2  -M^,  3  ■M}^,  2  -.3^% ;  at  Sandusky, 
O.,  Sept.  37th,  purse  $500,  he  beat  Mohawk  Jr.— 3:37^:^,  3:26;%<,  3:38;  at  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  Oct.  8th,  purse  $1,000,  he  beat  Hickory  Jack  and  Jessie,  in 
3  :SS%,  2 :383^,  2 :29 ;  at  Greenville,  Pa.,  Oct.  5th,  purse  $600,  he  beat  Gentle 
Annie— 2 :42,l|,  3:39}4^  3:311-^;  at  Georgetown,  Ky.,  Aug.  19th,  1875,  Byron 
won  the  "free  for  all"  in  "four  heats— 3:30 1^',  2M14,  3:33i^,  3:34,1^;  at 
Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  July  9th,  "  free  for  all,"  purse  $300,  Byron  won  in  straight 
heats,  beating  Ed.  Wilder,  Gumball,  Harrodsburg  Boy  and  Little  Nell — 2 :30, 
3:33,2:30;  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  Sept.  30,  1875,  purse  "free  for  all,"  stallion 
making  the  season  in  Kentucky,  Byron  won  in  four  heats,  beating  Mambrino 


360  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

Boy  and  Mambrino  Pilot  Jr.— 2 :35M,  2 :30i^,  2:31^,  2:32;  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
■Aug.,  1876,  for  a  purse  of  $500,  Byi'on  beat  Josephine  and  Wliirlwind — 2:32, 
2:321^,  2:31,2:313^,2:36. 

HERSHEt's  royal  GEORGE. 

This  horse  was  a  bay,  and  was  foaled  in  1858.  He  was  by  old 
Royal  George,  his  dam  was  by  Flag  of  Truce,  a  thoroughbred.  He 
was  bred  in  Canada  West,  and  in  1867  was  bought  and  taken  to 
Iowa  by  Mr.  B.  Hershey,  of  Muscatine. 

POAVELL's   royal   GEORGE. 

This  horse  was  foaled  in  18G3,  and  was  by  old  Royal  George, 
dam  by  Kentucky  Whip,  and  was  owned  by  Powell  Bros.,  of  Craw- 
ford county,  Pennsylvania. 

MCGREGOR   AVARRIOR. 

I  have  not  the  facts  relating  to  the  pedigree  and  history  of  McGre- 
gor Warrior,  other  than  that  he  was  by  old  Royal  George,  and  was 
owned  near  London,  Canada  West.     He  was  the  sire  of 

PANIC. 

The  dam  of  Panic  was  by  Blackwood;  second  dam  by  Foxhunter; 
third  dam  by  imp.  Truxton;  fourth  dam  by  imp.  Prospect;  fifth  dam 
by  Sir  Henry.  He  is  a  large  bay  horse,  owned  by  Hon.  Lewis  Stew- 
ard, of  Piano,  111.,  and  is  the  sire  of  Y^oung  Panic,  owned  at  lola, 
Kansas,  by  Dr.  Fulton,  who  gives  the  same  pedigree  for  the  dam  of 
Young  Panic  as  given  above  for  Panic.  Mr,  John  H.  Dulmadge,  of 
London,  Canada  West,  the  breeder  of  Panic,  sends  me  the  statement 
that  the  pedigree  is  correct  as  to  Panic.  It  is  a  Canadian  pedigree, 
with  which  I  am  not  familiar.  Blackwood,  doubtless,  was  either  the 
original  Coeur-de-Iion  or  a  son  of  that  horse  of  the  same  name,  for 
such  son  was  kept  at  or  near  London. 

These  two  Panics  are  both  well  known  to  me.  They  are  large  bay 
horses,  full  sixteen  hands  high,  and  of  great  substance.  The  elder 
Panic  has  trotted  in  about  3:40,  and  I  have  already  described  their 
way  of  going. 

The  family  all  seem  to  have  the  famlty  of  imparting  the  trotting 
gait,  much  after  the  same  style,  and  with  a  uniformity  that  goes  far  to 
repel  the  idea  that  they  have  had  their  origin  in  any  pacing  stock. 
They  now  and  then  show  an  inclination  to  pace,  but  do  not  breed 
■enough  natural  pacers  to  warrant   the   conclusion  that   the  pacing 


RECOKD   OF  THE   FAMILY.  361 

element  was  the  germ  from  which  they  sprang.  Their  tjrpe  is  too 
much  of  a  fixed  character,  and  they  adhere  to  it  with  too  great 
tenacity,  to  admit  of  their  having  had  any  mongrel  origin. 

FAMILY    EECOED. 

The  following  summary  taken  from  the  2:30  list  will  show  the  posi- 
tion and  standing  of  the  descendants  of  old  Tippoo,  the  sire  of  Royal 
George : 

Royal  George  has  to  his  credit  as  a  sire  the  following  performers  in 
the  list  of  3:30  or  better: 

Belle  of  Toronto,  2:30,  and  two  heats. 

Lady  Byron,  2:28,  and  seven  heats. 

Lady  Hamilton,  2:30. 

Royal  George  Jr.,  2:26-2-,  and  nine  heats. 

Sir  William  Wallace,  2:27-|-,  and  four  heats. 

Tartar,  2 :28|-,  and  three  heats. 

Toronto  Chief,  2:24^,  under  saddle. 

Old  Tippoo,  his  sire,  has  a  son,  Sager  Horse,  sire  of  Clara,  2:27, 
and  five  heats;  another  called  Tippoo  Horse,  has  Jas.  H.  Burke,  2:27^, 
and  four  heats.  Sportsman,  another  son  of  Old  Tippoo,  has  to  his 
credit  Taconey,  2:27,  and  six  heats. 

Field's  Royal  George  has  Byron,  2:25^,  and  fourteen  heats. 

HoAve's  Royal  George  has  Caledonia  Chief,  2:29^,  and  two  heats. 

Grantham  Chief  has  Commodore  Nutt,  2:29,  and  two  heats. 

I  find  a  Black  Warrior,  pedigree  not  traced.  He  is  a  pacer  and 
has  to  his  credit  Idol,  2:27^,  and  ten  heats;  Morrissey,  2:26:|-,  and 
eleven  heats.  I  have  no  means  of  determining  whether  he  belongs 
to  this  family,  having  no  jDcrsonal  knowledge  in  the  premises,  but  the 
range  of  the  time,  his  name,  and  the  fact  that  he  is  a  pacer,  are  sugges- 
tive of  a  descent  from  this  stock. 

Toronto  Chief  has  to  his  credit  Thomas  Jefferson,  2:23^,  and  thirty- 
nine  heats. 

Royal  Revenge,  son  of  Toronto  Chief,  has  to  his  credit:  Fred 
Hooper,  2:23,  and  thirty-two  heats;  John  Ellis,  2:29. 

Buzz,  by  a  son  of  Toronto  Chief,  2:28+. 

His  son,  Niagara  Chief,  has  to  his  credit  Ben  Flagler,  2:26^,  and 
eleven  heats. 

Thos.  Jefferson,  his  son,  has  to  his  credit  Mike  Jefferson,  2:29^. 

This  makes  a  total  of  twenty-one  pei-formers  credited  to  this  family, 
if  we  take  the  two  by  Black  Warrior,  the  pacer,  and  an  aggregate  of 


362  THE   KOYAL   GEORGES. 

one  hundred  and  sixty-five  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  and,  in  addition, 
this  family  being  one  in.  large  part  originating  beyond  our  own 
borders,  renders  it  most  probable  that  several  representatives  of  the 
family  are  included  in  the  list  from  sires  unknown. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  I  have  found  a  list  as  follows,  but  with  no 
means  to  verify  it: 

Field's  Royal  George,  2:25f;  Woodruff's  Royal  George,  2:26; 
Royal  John,  2:26^;  Rapid,  2:27^;  Gen.  Love,  2:30. 

These,  if  record  performers,  should  be  added  to  the  above  list. 

The  one  strikins:  fact  of  this  record  is  the  nvimber  of  heats  in  the 
vicinity  of  2:25  to  2:27.  To  what  family  of  like  age  and  of  equal 
number  elsewhere  can  we  point  for  a  record  that  will  compare  with 
this,  for  uniformity  and  excellence?  Taken  in  connection  with  the 
fact  that  they  only  at  a  comparatively  recent  period  crossed,  or  perhaps 
recrossed  our  border,  it  is  eminently  suggestive  that  there  is  yet  much 
to  look  for  in  the  future  of  the  family. 

The  Royal  Georges  seem  to  have  been  best  known  and  most  abun- 
dant about  Buffalo  and  Niagara  Falls,  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 

The  characteristics  of  the  family  are  of  a  positive  and  clearly 
marked  kind,  and  it  must  be  confessed  they  bear  a  strong  resemblance 
to  the  Duroc-Messenger  family. 

The  qualities  by  which  they  are  distinguished  are  easily  delineated. 
They  are  large  and  very  powerful  horses.  They  are  a  family  that,  at 
an  early  age,  display  the  great  qualities  for  which  they  are  distin- 
guished all  through  life.  They  are  ready  and  free  drivers,  courageous 
and  full  of  game  to  the  last,  and  possess  the  royal  trotting  quality 
which  we  have  seen  displayed  in  such  eminent  degree  by  the  Duroc- 
Messengers. 

They  display  a  gait  that  is  not  exactly  the  same,  but  very  nearly 
akin  to  it;  suggesting  that  in  its  oi'igin  and  growth  it  was  in  large 
])art  influenced  by  an  agency  similar  to  that  which  shapes  and 
controls  in  the  Duroc-Messenger. 

They  have  their  point  of  divergence — they  are  not  marked  by  the 
same  tendency  to  infirmities  that  follows  the  Duroc  blood,  and  this 
to  my  mind  suggests,  that  in  their  points  of  similarity  they  had  a 
common  origin,  and  in  this  divergent  point  they  owe  their  difference 
in  character  to  the  fact  that  they  have  also  in  part  come  through 
different  channels. 

The  summary  of  all  which,  in  plain  terms,  is  this,  that  to  my  mind 
the   evidences  point  very  strongly  to  the  fact  that  through  Tippoo 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   LONG   LEVERAGE.  363 

they  derived  their  descent  from  Ogden's  Messenger;  and  that  through 
the  dam  of  Ogden's  Messenger,  a  daughter  of  Highflyer,  whose  dam 
was  a  daughter  of  Gimcrack,  this  family  derived  the  anatomical 
conformation  of  a  peculiai'ly  long  and  strong  thigh,  the  same  that 
Duroc  derived  from  Amanda,  the  granddaughter  of  Medley,  the  son 
of  Gimcrack;  and  that  this  Gimcrack  thigh  is  the  index  finger — the  con- 
trolling meml^er,  that  shapes  and  forms  the  character,  the  gait  or 
way  of  going  of  our  American  trotters  to  a  greater  extent  than  any 
other  one  fact  or  circumstance  in  all  the  pages  of  equine  history,  to 
be  seen,  known  and  read  of  all  men  who  will  carefully  and  intelli- 
gently study  the  action  of  our  respective  trotting  families;  and 
further,  that  the  taint  or  seeds  of  infirmitv  in  the  Durocs  came  from 
Diomed,  and  that  this  fact  accounts  for  the  point  of  divergence 
between   the   two  families. 

In  this  family,  and  in  that  of  the  Duroc-Messengers,  a  fact  is  pre- 
sented which  is  worthy  of  special  consideration.  The  Messenger 
horse  and  the  Diomed  family  are  both  noted  for  what  I  term  a  short 
leverage — a  thigh  not  over  23  to  23  inches  in  length,  and  a  length 
from  hip  to  hock  of  38  to  39  inches — and  in  their  way  of  going  they 
show  the  effect  of  such  a  conformation  in  a  close  and  even  gait,  not 
spreading  wide  behind.  In  the  Duroc  family,  although  he  is  a 
Diomed,  there  is  a  departure  from  this  narrow  gauge.  The  thigh  of 
the  Duroc-Messenger  is  from  24  to  25  inches  in  length,  and  he  trots 
wide  apart,  often  very  wide,  and  the  gait  is  one  of  marked  j)eculiarity. 

In  the  family  of  the  Royal  Georges,  tracing,  as  they  seem  to  do,  to 
Ogden's  Messenger,  we  find  another  family  that  go  wide  apart,  a  gait 
very  analogous  to,  but  not  precisely  like  that  of  the  Duroc-Messenger. 
It  indicates  the  long  thigh,  and  accompanying  it  a  longer  line  fi-om 
the  hip  to  the  hock  than  is  found  to  jDrevail  generally  among  the 
Duroc-Messengers,  although  the  latter  are  not  as  uniform  in  this  respect 
as  they  are  in  regard  to  the  length  of  thigh.  Some  of  them  have  the 
other  measure  long  also,  but  generally  they  are  not  long  from  hip  to 
hock.  These  facts  suggest  a  unity  of  origin  at  some  point,  inasmuch 
as  this  peculiarity  is  not  found  in  other  families  descended  from  the 
thoroughbred.  When  it  is  also  found  that  the  two  families  had  a 
common  ancestor  in  Gimcrack,  equally  distant  from  either,  and  that 
he  is  described  in  the  same  terms  that  are  used  to  portray  the 
physical  peculiarities  of  Duroc,  the  conclusion  is  strongly  supported 
that  the  peculiarity  to  which  each  of  these  families  owes  its  gait 
and  way  of  going — the  long  leverage — had  its  origin  with  the  horse 


364  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

Gimcrack.  He  was  a  horse  foaled  1760.  He  was  a  very  successful 
race  horse,  and  was  not  beaten  until  he  was  six  years  old  and  not 
often  then  until  much  older.  He  ran  a  race  of  twenty-two  and  a  half 
miles  when  he  was  six  years  old  and  continued  on  the  turf  until  he 
was  eleven  years  old.  He  was  the  sire  of  imported  Medley,  the  sire 
of  Grey  Diomed,  and  the  Medley  cross  has  always  been  esteemed  an 
excellent  cross  in  a  trotter. 

This  being  established,  if  I  am  asked  as  to  the  eflFect  of  the  blood 
of  Harris'  Hambletonian  on  the  family,  in  case  it  is  ascertained  that 
the  dam  of  Royal  George  was  daughter  of  the  Green  Mountain  sire, 
I  answer,  that  it  may  be  the  cause  of  an  augmentation  of  the  intense 
trotting  quality  of  the  family  and  of  the  impressiveness  of  the 
stallions  as  sires,  but  that  its  influence  on  the  long  thigh  and  the  gait 
is  no  greater  than  that  of  Abdallah  and  Hambletonian  on  the  pro- 
duce of  Star  mares — none  at  all.  This  Gimcrack  or  Duroc  thigh, 
once  planted,  will  grow.  I  have  found  that  to  be  an  axiom  in 
horse  breeding,  and  where  the  long  thigh  is,  you  will  have  the  wide- 
spreading  gait,  and  where  the  peculiar  conformation  of  the  American 
Star  family  exists,  you  will  find  the  leg  swinging  as  it  were  from  the 
hip,  not  appearing  to  bend,  but  passing  around  at  the  side  and  reach- 
ing far  forward.  I  observe  recently  one  clever  writer,  whom  I  like 
very  much,  asks:  "  Who  ever  saw  a  Star  mare  that  did  not  trot  wide 
behind?"  or,  some  such  inquiry.  Very  true,  but  who  ever  saw  a 
Star  mare,  or  the  son  of  one,  except  Jay  Gould,  that  had  a  short 
thigh?     But  I  have  discussed  that  question  elsewhere. 

A  matter  worthy  of  observation  may  be  suggested  here.  I  have 
shown  that  in  the  blood  of  Diomed  no  trotting  quality  whatever 
existed,  and  that  in  Duroc  the  only  element  of  adaptation  was  found 
in  that  form  or  physical  conformation  that  made  him  a  suitable  scion 
upon  which  to  engraft  trotting  inclinations;  and  further,  that  our  best 
results  in  the  Duroc-Messeno-er  crosses  were  to  be  realized  when  we 
had  advanced  the  furthest  from  Duroc  and  again  came  back  to  Mes- 
senger— that  the  Duroc  factor  was  a  valuable  one,  but  it  was  most 
valuable  when  it  had  become  closely  allied  to  and  deeply  infused  with 
Messenger  blood  and  traits.  The  very  opposite  observation  applies, 
and  for  good  reason,  to  the  Messenger-Gimcrack  blood,  as  found  in 
Ogden's  Messenger. 

In  the  Duroc-Messenger,  the  union  came  from  Duroc  himself  and 
thd  daughters  of  Messenger — Duroc  was  relatively  the  stronger 
force;  but  in  the  other  union  it  was  Messenger  himself  and  the  dam 
of  Gimcrack  descent.     I  have  all  the  while  steadily  taught  that  the 


A   ROYAL   TROTTING   SIRE.  865 

Duroc-Messenger  blood  must  be  employed  on  the  side  of  the  Jam, 
and  the  strong  blood  of  Messenger,  Abdallah,  or  Hambletonian  for 
the  sire,  unless  the  Duroc  element  was  exceedingly  remote,  as  in  the 
case  of  Volunteer,  Rhode  Island  and  Gov.  Sprague.  That  the  best 
results  in  breeding  came  from  that  relation  in  union,  unless  in  these 
exceptional  cases,  where  the  blood  forces  so  worked  that  the  Messen- 
ger was  absolutely  uppermost  in  the  composition,  as  in  the  case  of 
Allie  West,  and  in  Administrator,  where  each  had  a  double  Duroc 
cross,  yet  the  Messenger  was  in  the  complete  mastery.  For  such  was 
the  case  in  both  of  these  stallions.  A  close  examination  and  study 
of  each,  reveals  the  fact  that  the  Duroc  element  was  entirely  subordi- 
nate. But  in  this  Royal  George  family  there  is  no  such  necessity  for 
advancing  away  from  the  original  source,  for  the  reason  that  the  Mes- 
senger was  in  the  supreme  control  from  the  beginning.  Hence  the 
impressiveness  of  the  sires  of  that  family.  Besides  this,  there  was  no 
such  taint  of  infirmity  as  existed  in  the  Diomed  blood  of  Duroc,  and 
further  dilution  and  purification  was  unnecessary  for  the.  purposes  of 
renovation.  In  short,  the  produce  of  Ogden's  Messenger  embodied 
the  best  of  all  elements  for  a  trotting  family,  with  no  opposing  or  con- 
flicting forces,  except  the  Arab  or  galloping  impulses  which  must 
have  existed  in  a  family  so  close  to  the  thoroughbred,  and  these 
would  rapidly  lose  strength  and  finally  disappear  in  crossing  upon  the 
road  and  trotting  stock  of  the  country.  Such  has  been  the  history  of 
this  family. 

Tippoo  was  not  much  of  a  trotter,  but  he  had  the  blood;  in  him  was 
the  germ,  and  when  planted  in  trotting  soil  it  had  a  rapid  growth. 

Royal  George  was  beyond  doubt  a  faster  trotter  than  Abdallah,  and 
he  was  also  a  prodigious  sire.  He  produced  more  trotters  and  far  faster 
ones  than  Abdallah,  and  was  located  in  the  wild  woods  of  Canada 
during  the  most  of  his  life,  while  Abdallah  was  in  the  centre  of  the 
greatest  roadster  and  trotting  region  of  the  continent — among  the 
finest  trotting  mares  in  the  world.  If  Abdallah  was  the  king  of  trot- 
ting stallions,  what  was  Royal  George?  Abdallah  only  produced  three 
performers  that  have  records  in  2:30,  and  the  fastest.  Sir  Walter,  2:27, 
was  from  a  daughter  of  Bellfounder.  Royal  George's  list  shows 
seven  performers  in  2:30,  and  with  records  of  2:26^,  2:27-^,  2:28, 
2:28i,  2:30,  2:30,  and  2:24^,  under  saddle.  Which  should  wear  the 
emblems  of  Royalty? 

A  close  study  of  this  family  impresses  me  with  the  belief  that  they 
are  a  great  and  valuable  element  yet  only  beginning  the  career  of 
their  influence   on  our  American   trotting  families.     It  is  worthy  of 


1866  THE   ROYAL   GEORGES. 

consideration  whether  thej'  are  not  an  imjiortant  and  valuable  branch 
upon  which  to  engraft  the  blood  of  Abdallah,  Hambletonian  and  the 
progressive  trotting  qualities  of  the  New  England  Morgans,  as  found 
in  Knox,  Lambert  and  Tao-o-art's  Abdallah. 

If  Almont  and  Thorndale  have  been  the  result  of  the  union  of  the 
Hambletonian  and  Mambrino  Chief  families,  and  if  they  present  an 
increase  of  speed  and  trotting  quality  in  the  union  of  the  two,  what 
may  we  not  hope  and  expect  from  uniting  the  blood  of  Administrator, 
Cuyler,  Almont,  Thorndale,  and  Florida,  Avith  that  of  the  Royal 
George  family,  in  its  best  representatives? 

Moreover,  the  trotting  blood  of  Messenger,  Bellfounder,  Duroc,  and 
of  Tippoo,  has  so  far  become  naturalized  by  this  time,  and  so  far 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  the  trotting  gait,  that  there  will  be  few,  if 
any,  impediments  in  the  way  of  uniting  and  reuniting  them  at  pleasure. 

Still  further,  the  Royal  George  family  has  now  become  sufficiently 
numerous  and  has  passed  through  enough  renewals  of  its  blood  to 
possess  sufficient  variety  to  enable  us  to  interbreed  in  the  same  blood, 
and  in  this  there  is  a  probability  of  still  further  advancement.  It  is 
not  a  very  old  family  in  our  trotting  lists,  and  one  or  two  more  genera- 
tions may  see  it  j^resent  the  champion  trotters  and  trotting  stallions  of 
this  country.     I  do  not  esteem  this  among  the  improbabilities. 

Were  I  to  give  my  ideas  as  to  the  method  of  advancing  the  family, 
it  would  be  to  take  the  best  of  mares  from,  perhaps,  the  family  of 
Field's  Royal  George — if  Byron's  dam  was  a  Harris  Hambletonian, 
his  full  sister  or  one  bred  in  that  way  would  fill  my  plans — and  I 
would  send  such  a  mare  thus  strong  in  the  blood  to  Thomas  Jefferson. 
I  think  Jefferson  a  good  sire  for  a  promiscuous  selection  of  mares,  but 
he  will  be  better  when  bred  back  to  his  own  stock.  His  dam,  while 
a  trotter,  had  not  trotting  blood  from  which  she  could  endow  or  estab- 
lish a  family.  The  strong  impress  came  from  the  side  of  the  sire, 
and  Jefferson,  from  a  daughter  of  Field's  horse,  would  produce  a  sire 
that  would  make  one  of  the  most  impressive  sires  we  have  ever  seen. 
So  would  Byron  from  a  daughter  of  Jefferson  or  of  Toronto  Chief. 

I  dismiss  the  family,  in  the  belief  that  they  present,  in  their  success- 
ful history  and  their  superior  combinations,  elements  of  great  interest 
and  valvic,  both  to  the  philosophical  student  and  to  the  intelligent  and 
enterprising  breeder. 

May  their  domain  be  still  extended;  may  the  sceptre  of  their 
RoTAXTY  be  yet  seen  on  many  of  the  public  courses  of  the  continent; 
and  may  the  result  declare  that  he  only  is  Royal  who  has  the  speed  to 
win  and  the  might  to  rule. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  BASHAWS  AND   CLAYS. 

The  Bashaws  derive  their  name  from  the  Barb  horse  Grand  Bashaw, 
imported  from  Tripoli  in  the  year  1820.  The  numerous  and  vakiable 
family  of  Clays,  the  descendants  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  Long^ 
Island  Blackhawk,  belong  to  this  stock. 

The  circumstances  of  the  importation  of  Grand  Bashaw,  are  related 
in  a  letter  from  Hon.  Richard  B.  Jones,  formerly  consul  to  Tripoli,, 
which  has  been  made  public. 

In  1818,  Mr.  Jones,  then  residing  at  Tripoli,  had  loaned  some  Dan- 
ish officers  a  valuable  Arabian  horse,  which  by  accident  they  killed. 
On  the  following  morning  Mr.  Jones  found  Grand  Bashaw  in  his 
stable,  sent  to  replace  the  lost  Arab.  The  offer  of  compensation 
was  declined,  but  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Morgan,  then 
residing  with  him,  bought  Grand  Bashaw,  and  he  was  subsequently, 
through  the  aid  of  our  consul,  imported  along  with  Grand  Sultan  and 
Saladin.  He  is  described  by  Mr.  Jones  as  a  Barb  of  the  purest  lin- 
eage; a  black,  with  a  small  white  star  and  snip,  and  very  beautiful. 
He  died  in  Pennsylvania  in  1845. 

YOUNG   BASHxlW. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  stud  service,  1821,  Grand  Bashaw  pro- 
duced Young  Bashaw  from  Pearl,  by  Bond's  First  Consul,  grandam 
by  imported  Messenger.  This  horse  became  the  founder  of  the  nu- 
merous and  distinguished  trotting  families  above  named,  and  his  was 
the  only  branch  of  the  descendants  of  Grand  Bashaw  that  showed 
any  such  qualities.  As  I  have  previously  stated,  not  a  trace  of  trot- 
ting qviality  has  ever  been  discovered  as  coming  directly  from  any 
pvire  Barb  or  Arab.  As  the  grandam  of  Young  Bashaw  was  a 
daughter  of  Messenger,  and  as  Young  Bashaw  was  a  coarse  looking 
grey  horse,  in  every  respect  strongly  taking  after  the  Messenger 
family,  and  one  that  excelled  in  trotting  quality,  and  was  noted  for 
2^  (367J 


3t)3  THE   BASHAWS    AND    CLAYS. 

■producing  a  trotter  every  time  he  was  united  with  a  mare  of  Messen- 
ger blood,  the  case  is  a  very  clear  one,  in  view  of  what  we  know  of 
the  bearings  of  that  blood,  that  he  derived  his  trotting  qualities,  which 
he  transmitted  to  his  own  descendants,  from  his  Messenger  grandam; 
and  that  the  so-called  Bashaw  and  Clay  families  are,  in  reality,  a 
branch  of  the  family  of  the  great  and  most  wonderful  Messenger; 
and  that  they  owe  all  their  celebrity  to  the  Black  Coach  horse  of 
mixed  Lincolnshire  and  thoroughbred  descent,  which  produced  Samp- 
son, the  real  founder  of  our  great  trotting  family. 

Grand  Bashaw  was  about  fourteen  hands  one  inch  in  height — a 
full  sized  Barb.  His  son,  Young  Bashaw,  was  about  fifteen  hands 
one  inch,  and  was  not  in  any  sense  a  handsome  horse.  Whatever 
may  have  been  'his  inheritance  from  his  sire,  beauty  was  no  part  of  it. 
It  is  stated  that  during  his  first  season's  service,  he  got  no  more  than 
eight  foals,  and  that  some  of  these  proved  to  be  trotters,  which  is 
•evidence  that  there  was  blood  somewhere.  Of  this  first  season's  ser- 
vice came  Andrew  Jackson,  the  best  trotting  stallion  of  his  day,  and 
the  immediate  progenitor  of  the  present  Clay  and  Bashaw  family. 
Besides  Andrew  Jackson,  Young  Bashaw  produced  Black  Bashaw, 
Charlotte  Temple,  Washington,  and  other  animals  of  note.  He  died 
in  1837.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  horse  of  great  superiority,  and  would 
in  our  day  be  regarded  as  a  pearl  above  price. 

ANDREW    JACKSON". 

Andrew  Jackson  was  foaled  in  1827,  and  was  by  Young  Bashaw, 
from  a  black  pacing  mare  of  unknown  blood.  She  was  a  mare  that 
came  in  a  drove  of  horses  (as  was  very  common  in  those  days,  and 
until  the  advent  of  railways)  from  Ohio  to  Philadelphia,  She  Avas 
most  probably  a  Western  bred  mare;  was  regarded  as  a  good  one; 
she  both  paced  and  trotted,  and  was  most  probably  a  mare  of  natural 
trotting  habit,  that  had  been  taught  to  pace  under  the  saddle.  From 
:a  personal  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  going  in  Ohio  at  a  later  period,  I 
am  able  to  say,  that  a  natural  pacer  was  hardly  ever  taught  to  trot; 
hnt  a  natural  trotter — by  which  I  mean  one  of  ordinary  speed — was 
■often,  from  use  under  the  saddle,  taught  to  pace;  and  thus  both  gaits 
were  quite  common,  much  more  so  than  great  speed  at  either  way  of 
^oing. 

The  career  of  Andrew  Jackson  begaTi  with  an  incident,  which, 
while  it  might  have  furnished  the  name  for  one  liranch  of  his  de- 
scendants, came  near,  also,  depriving  the  entire  family  of  a  name  and 


WORSE   THAlSr   SAW-DUST.  369 

existence  before  their  day.  After  his  dam  was  bred  to  Young' 
Bashaw,  she  became  the  property  of  one  Daniel  Jeffreys,  a  brick 
maker,  and  she  brought  forth  her  colt  in  a  brick  yard,  where  the  first 
adventure  of  the  youngster,  before  he  was  able  to  feed  from  his  mother, 
was  to  tumble  into  one  of  the  pools  or  pits  where  they  had  mixed  the 
clay  for  making  brick,  out  of  which  he  was  dragged  in  no  state  to  give 
any  promise  of  the  future  greatness  of  the  Clay  family.  He  seemed, 
either  from  the  mishap  that  attended  his  birth,  or  from  natural  weak- 
ness, to  be  a  worthless  colt,  and  could  not  stand  erect  on  his  pasterns 
but  bent  them  over  at  every  effort  to  stand  upright.  His  owner 
was  ready  to  have  him  destroyed  and  put  out  of  sight,  but  the  moth- 
erly kindness  of  his  wife  saved  the  colt.  A  little  careful  nursing  soon 
brought  him  out,  and  the  Andrew  Jackson  trotting  stallion  of  later 
years  lived  to  make  rich  returns  for  the  early  but  important  acts  of 
kindness  which  saved  his  life.  How  many  breeders  have  lost  valuable 
colts  from  the  lack  of  a  little  care  for  two  or  three  days  at  like  critical 
periods.     I  am  of  the  number. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  a  strong,  compact,  well-formed  horse  on  short 
legs.  He  was  a  jet  black,  with  a  white  strip  in  his  face,  and  three 
white  legs — a  color  and  set  of  marks  that  follow  the  family  with  very 
great  tenacity  to  the  present  day. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  not  only  a  trotter  of  distinction  in  his 
day,  but,  as  a  sire  of  trotting  horses,  he  ranked  in  his  time  next  to 
Abdallah.  While  he  did  not  equal  the  latter  in  point  of  breeding, 
his  trotting  qualities  were  so  far  cultivated  and  kept  in  a  state  of  high 
development,  that  he  left  his  mark  as  a  trotting  sire  very  impres- 
sively. His  races  seem  to  have  been  two-mile  heats  mainly,  and  he 
generally  made  the  time  for  the  two  miles  in  5:19  to  5:25.  It  was 
claimed  in  bis  day  that  he  could  trot  a  mile  in  2:30,  but  he  made  no 
such  record.  He  was  the  sire  of  Kemble  Jackson,  who  was  also  a 
trotter  famous  for  bottom  in  those  days,  and  made  a  three-mile 
record  of  8:03,  and  a  record  of  2:40  for  a  single  mile  to  wagon. 

LOXG    ISLAND    BLACKHAWK. 

In  the  year  1837,  Andrew  Jackson  produced  the  black  stallion, 
Long  Island  Blackhawk,  the  first  stallion  to  trot  in  2:40  with  a  250 
pound  wagon.  His  dam  was  the  famous  mare,  Sally  Miller,  the  old- 
time  competitor  of  Andrew  Jackson*.  This  son  was  highly  distin- 
guished, like  his  sire,  both  as  a  trotter  and  the  sire  of  trotters.  His 
dam,   Sally   Miller,  was   claimed  to  be  a  daughter  of  Mambrino,  but 


870  THE   BASHAWS   AND   CLAYS. 

later  evidences  seem  to  show  that  she  was  by  a  son  of  Tippoo  Saib. 
She  was  a  mare  of  great  merit,  and  trotted  two-mile  beats  and  beat 
many  of  the  early  celebrities  of  the  Messenger  family.  Long  Island 
Blackhawk  produced  several  of  the  same  name,  among  them 
Vernol's,  Brooks'  and  Seely's;  the  latter  from  a  daughter  of  Tom 
Thumb,  the  Canadian,  and  she  was  daughter  of  the  Charles  Kent  mare, 
by  Bellfounder,  the  dam  of  Hambletonian. 

green's  bashaw. 

From  this  same  mare,  Belle,  by  Weber's  Tom  Thumb,  Vernol's 
Blackhawk  produced  Green's  Bashaw,  a  horse  that  has  attained  celeb- 
rity in  the  West,  both  as  a  trotter  and  as  a  sire  of  trotters.  He  has 
shown  a  capacity  to  trot  in  2:24,  and  has  produced  Bashaw  Jr.,  record 
2:24f,  and  twenty-eight  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Kirkwood,  record  2:24, 
and  four  heats  in  2:30;  Rose  of  Washington,  2:27,  and  eight  heats  in 
2:30;  Wild  Oats,  2:29f;  Wapsie,  the  sire  of  Gen.  Grant,  who 
has  a  record  of  2:21,  and  fifteen  heats  in  2:30;  and  West  Liberty, 
2:28,  and  three  heats  in  2:30.  He  is  yet  living,  and  has  been  a  very 
noted  stallion  for  a  long  time.  His  Canadian  cross  appears  in  most  of 
his  stock  in  the  short  and  thick  neck  by  which  they  are  distinguished, 
but  his  blood  will  be  found  very  valuable,  especially  as  a  vigorous 
outcross  to  the  closely  in-bred  Hambletonian  and  Abdallah  families. 
He  is  a  black  horse,  with  no  other  white  than  a  star,  and  breeds  blacks, 
bays  and  many  dark  chestnuts.  He  was  foaled  in  1855,  and  was 
owned  for  many  years  by  the  late  Joseph  A.  Green,  of  Muscatine, 
Iowa,  and  is  now  owned  in  Illinois. 

Long  Island  Blackhawk  also  produced  the  stallion  Eureka,  a  name 
that  occurs  quite  frequently  in  the  pedigree  of  Eastern  bred  horses. 

He  was  also  the  sire  of  the  chestnut  stallion  Mohawk,  that  proved 
to  be  a  very  valuable  horse,  and  left  as  his  representatives,  Elmo, 
record  of  2:27,  and  eight  heats  in  2:30;  Mohawk  Chief,  2:30;  Hall's 
Mohawk,  2:20;  and  Mohawk  Jr.,  2:25,  and  eight  heats  in  2:30.  He 
died  in  1869,  after  six  years  service  in  Knox  county,  Ohio. 

I  have  also  seen  the  statement  that  the  stallion  Nonpariel  was  by 
Long  Island  Blackhawk,  although  he  is  also  in  the  Trottin<j  Register 
credited  to  Cassius  M.  Clay.  He  has  three  trotters  in  the  2:30  list: 
California  Damsel,  2:24^;  Commodore  Perry,  2:27-^;  and  Western 
N.ew  York,  2:29.     Nonpariel  was  probably  by  Cassius  M.  Clay. 


THE   FIRST   CLAY.  371 

JUPITER. 

FromXong  Island  Blackhawk  came  also  the  stallion  Jupiter.  His 
dam  was  Gipsy,  by  Almack,  son  of  Mambrino.  He  was  the  sire  of 
Jupiter  Abdallah,  and  from  him  comes  another  distinguished  line  of 
roadsters  and  trotters,  uniting  the  blood  of  Blackhawk  and  Abdallah. 
I  have  fully  noticed  Jupiter  Abdallah  in  Chapter  XVI. 

Jupiter  has  to  his  credit  Lady  Emma,  with  record  of  2:2<)^,  and  six- 
teen heats  in  2:30  or  better;  also  of  Lady  Hughes,  with  record  of  2:30. 

Long  Island  Blackhawk  also  has  to  his  credit  Prince,  called  Hart- 
ford Prince,  with  record  of  2:24^,  and  eleven  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

HENET    CLAT. 

From  Andrew  Jackson  came  also  the  black  stallion  Henry  Clay, 
foaled  in  1837.  He  was  the  head  or  founder  of  the  Clay  famih'. 
His  dam  w^as  the  Canadian  trotting  mare  called  Surry,  whose  name 
has  been  handed  down  to  us  as  the  source  of  the  quitting  propensities 
of  the  Clay  family,  by  which  they  have  earned  the  unenviable  and 
unmerited  cognomen  of  Saic-dust. 

She  was  herself  a  trotter,  and  she  undoubtedly  had  a  large  share  in 
the  make-up  of  the  Clay  family  that  have  descended  from  her  as  their 
immediate  maternal  ancestor  of  the  same  name.  From  her  history 
we  only  know  that  she  was  a  Canadian  and  a  trotter,  and  the  dam  of 
Henry  Clay. 

This  horse,  Henry  Clay,  lived  to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  was 
held  in  great  esteem  in  the  district  where  he'  lived.  He  was  always 
accused  of  being  untrue  and  lacking  in  courage  or  pluck  in  the 
heated  contest  of  the  race,  and  is  generally  credited  with  having 
transmitted  the  same  quality  to  his  descendants.  That  it  was  a  trait 
of  character  which  was  introduced  into  the  family  by  the  mare  Surry, 
is  generally  admitted,  but  that  it  was  a  lack  of  courage  or  pluck,  or 
physical  stamina,  is  denied  by  many  and  must  be  regarded  as  very 
doubtful.  The  best  representatives  of  the  family  have  either  been 
quitters  or  have  transmitted  the  quality  to  their  descendants.  Geo. 
M.  Patchen  was  certainly  a  great  horse  and  one  that  possessed  the 
best  of  blood,  yet  some  of  his  sons  were  the  worst  of  quitters. , 

Neaves'  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr.  was  bred  from  the  finest  strain  of  blood 
on  the  dam's  side  known  in  our  American  trotter,  and  his  son,  Sayer's 
Harry  Clay,  came  from  a  daughter  of  imported  Bellfounder,  and  was 
the  fastest  horse  of  the  Clay  family  in  his  day,  but  was  an  arrant 
quitter.     All  the  blood  of  Messenger  and  Bellfounder  failed  to  efface 


.372  THE.  BASHAWS   AND    CLAYS. 

the  trait.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  mental  quality  that,  when  collared 
by  an.  antagonist  and  likely-  to  be  forced  to  the  utmost,  caused  them 
to  sulk,  or  refuse  to  do  their  best.  Boston  had  this  trait;  his  grand- 
son, Harry  Bassett,  exhibited  it,  and  neither  of  them  lacked  courage 
or  pluck.     They  did  not  win,  because  they  would  not. 

This  mare  Surry,  however,  did  engraft  on  the  family  one  point  or 
element  which  they  carry  to  the  present  day,  and  by  which  they  are 
distinguished  at  least  from  the  family  of  Abdallah,  namely,  in  the 
increased  length  of  rear  leverage  and  the  coarseness  or  heaviness  of 
conformation  of  the  hindquarter.  It  is  a  family  trait,  and  marks  them 
even  among  the  Hambletonians,  who  also  receive  an  elongation  and  a 
growthy  development  in  that  quarter  from  Bellfounder,  but  not  of  the 
same  character  precisely  that  follows  the  Clays.  Bellfounder,  and  the 
Hambletonians  who  follow  him,  were  not  wide  across  the  hips.  They 
had  a  round  and  strong  loin  and  a  straight  or  goose  rump,  a  meaty 
buttock  as  it  was  termed,  and  a  long  leverage,  from  hip  to  hock;  but 
the  Clays  are  heavy  in  the  hindquarter  and  are  wide  across  the  hips, 
and  have  a  rounder  and  more  drooping  rump,  with  general  heaviness 
of  the  hindquarter. 

Henry  Clay  is  often  referred  to  and  described  as  a  horse  with  a 
long  thigh,  a  strong  thigh,  and  hock  well  let  down.  Those  who  knew 
him  well,  all  agree  that  he  had  much  of  the  strong  and  long  rear  pro- 
pellers that  marked  the  Canadian  cross.  This  is  a  feature  that  fol- 
lows the  larger  and  better  trotters  of  Canadian  blood.  It  was  one  of 
the  distinctive  features  "of  St.  Lawrence,  and  yet  marks  his  descendants. 
But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  strong  concentration  of  the  blood 
of  Messenger  in  the  later  Clays,  and  the  well  known  superiority  of 
that  blood,  has  had  the  same  effect  on  the  Canadian  leverage  in  the 
Clays  that  it  has  had  on  the  Bellfounder  elongation  in  Hambletonian 
- — it  did  not  survive  more  than  the  first  generation,  yet  its  remote 
effects  are  still  visible. 

The  Clays  are  not  so  elastic  in  trotting  action  as  the  Abdallah  and 
Champion  families,  and  trot  with  a  heavier  jog  and  more  demonstrative 
and  violent  way  of  going,  but  in  other  regards  not  very  unlike  the 
other  Messengers.  In  this  descrii)tion  I  except  the  produce  of  Sayer's 
Harry  Clay,  where  the  Canadian  blood,  reinforced  by  that  of  Bell- 
founder, made  a  great  and  important  change  not  only  in  the  gait  but 
in  the  qualifications  of  the  family  for  trotting  and  breeding  purposes. 

As  a  family  the  Clays  have  a  superior  physical  conformation  of 
much  strength,  and  in  great  part  well  adapted  to  the  trotting  gait,  but 


HENllY    CLAY.  373 

they  lack  in  the  high  nerve  and  splendid  brain  qualities  of  the  Abdal- 
lahs.  They  have  not  the  lofty  trotting  quality  and  ready  courage  of 
the  Duroc-Messenger  cross.     They  are  far  below  it. 

A  well-known  gentleman  has  very  recently,  through  the  turf 
journals,  given  to  the  public  a  particular  account  and  description  of 
Henry  Clay,  from  which  I  make  the  following  extracts : 

He  was  a  coal  black  horse,  about  15}^  hands  high,  with  a  short,  but  limber 
neck,  rather  thin  than  heavy,  a  good  square  head,  a  little  large,  as  most  level- 
headed good  stallions  do  have.  His  muzzle  was  somewhat  large  and  square, 
but  still  line  in  the  outline,  with  active  lips  and  nostrils.  His  eye  was  larg-e 
and  pleasant,  but  full  of  fire ;  ears  rather  short,  but  Avide  apart,  and  active^ 
ever  on  the  alert.  In  the  forehead  was  a  remarkable  white  crescent,  very 
perfect,  the  line  of  which  extended  up  and  down,  that  is,  one  horn  above  the 
eyes,  the  other  below.  The  neck  was  set  on  fine  shoulders,  union  with  the 
withers  being  perfect,  running  into  a  deep  brisket;  shoulders  very  oblique, 
elbows  well  out  from  the  chest,  giving  plenty  of  room  for  play,  without  beating 
the  heart  and  lungs;  arms  large,  long  and  powerful,  knee  large  and  flat,  as 
was  the  cannon,  but  very  short,  set  on  short  but  spring}'  pasterns.  Back 
tendons  unusually  large,  and  hard,  setting  out  from  the  bone  like  a  well-drawa 
rope,  almost  as  large  as  the  bone  in  some  of  the  horses  of  the  present  day.  Feet 
rather  large,  but  round  and  handsome,  wide  in  the  heel,  with  a  wall  thick  and 
tough  enough  to  trot  a  race  barefoot.  Was  deep  and  wide  through  the  lungs 
and  heart.  Body  long  and  round,  well  ribbed  out,  with  very  large  ribs,  or 
bone,  not,  however,  running  up  close  to  the  hip,  rather  open  there.  Back 
long,  coupled  well  back  to  very  long  hips,  but  so  drooping  as  to  look  exceed- 
ingly short,  when  really  they  were  very  long  from  the  coupling.  Very  broad 
and  strong  over  the  loin,  great  length  from  point  of  hip  to  hock,  powerful 
quarters  set  tcell  down  to  large  gaskins.  Hocks  large,  but  clean.  The  picture 
of  the  hind  leg  was  a  first-class  sickle  leg.  The  tail  was  rather  hairy,  coarse 
and  wavy,  with  more  or  less  white  hairs  at  the  root  of  dock,  which  same  he 
put  upon  most  all  his  colts;  whether  bay,  brown  or  black,  these  white  hairs 
were  most  often  there.  In  motion  he  had  rather  high  knee  action  and  when 
going  square,  the  movement  of  his  hind  legs  was  the  same  as  with  Sprague's, 
but  when  excited,  or  the  road  stony  or  rough,  he  was  mixed,  a  real  Canada 
Foxrun,  but  with  the  first  chance,  he  would  square  himself  away  from 
preference. 

From  the  line,  back,  he  was  a  perfect  old-time  Kanuck,  while  all  forward 
was  every  true  horseman's  "  beau  ideal "  of  a  perfect  horse.  Hips  were 
sharp,  indicating  the  nervous,  wide-awake  temperament.  In  disposition  and 
temper,  he  was  a  real  lovable  horse,  because  pleasant,  cheerful,  prompt,  and 
ever  ready  to  the  word,  and  always  ready  to  do  quick  when  asked. 

Money  and  fashion  may  make  horses,  but  it  don't  make  an  "  Old  Henry  Clay." 
The  last  time  I  went  to  see  him  was  in  October,  ISGo.  ]\Ir.  Fellows  who  owned 
him,  knew  I  loved  the  old  horse,  and  asked  me  "  would  I  not  like  to  see  him 
out."  Thinking  not  to  trouble  him,  knowing  the  old  horse  had  long  been 
blind,  I  replied  "Nevermind:"  but  the  door  of  his  box  was   swung  wide 


:-374  THE   BASHAWS   AND    CLAYS. 

open,  and  -with  a  cheerful,  "  Come,  Henry,"  the  old  horse  sailed  out  into  the 
barnyard,  with  as  lofty  and  as  sure  a  step  as  though  he  could  see  everj'  spot 
to  place  a  foot. 

First,  in  his  box,  his  wish  was  to  do  all  you  asked,  and  that  cheerfully  and 
-quick ;  not  nip,  bite,  strike,  kick,  or  sulk,  but  with  a  prompt,  cheerful,  glad-to- 
see-3^ou  air.  Then  in  harness,  the  positive  confidence  he  estalilished  in  j-our 
bosom  for  the  work,  be  it  long,  hard  and  rough,  or  short,  all  the  same ;  he  was 
willing.  Then  in  the  stud,  you  knew  for  certain  that  he  would  not  beget 
a  lazy  brute. 

During  the  late  years  of  his  life,  this  horse  Henry  Clay  was  owned 
by  General  Wadsworth,  of  Geneseo,  New  York,  and  was  kept  in  the 
interior  of  that  State.  While  there,  according  to  the  weight  of  testi- 
mony, lie  produced  the  mare  Dolly  Spanker,  a  famous  road  mare  that 
became  the  dam  of  the  stallion  George  Wilkes,  described  fully  in 
Chapter  XIII,  known  in  his  early  life  as  Robert  Fillingham.  I  may 
here  say  that  this  horse,  and  the  several  Clay  stallions  known  in 
this  country  and  coming  from  the  same  stock,  were  generally  reputed 
to  be  quitters,  but  from  him  and  others  of  the  name  came  many 
mares  that  became  the  dams  respectively  of  numerous  distinguished 
trotters,  and,  so  far  as  I  now  recall,  this  quitting  characteristic  seemed 
to  rest  in  its  full  force  mainly  with  the  produce  of  the  male  members 
of  the  Clay  family,  although  the  sons  of  some  of  these  daughters  have 
shown  the  same  trait. 

George  Wilkes,  although  inclined  to  sulk  occasionally,  became 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  sons  of  Hambletonian,  both  as  a 
trotter  and  a  sire  of  trotters — and  other  Clay  mares  have  been  equally 
celebrated,  as  dams  of  great  trotters,  among  whom  the  name  of  a 
real  quitter  or  soft  horse  can  not  be  found.  Rarus,  Bodine,  St. 
Julien,  Gazelle,  Prospero,  Reform,  Happy  Thought,  Elaine,  Election- 
eer, Idol,  I.(Ouis  Napoleon,  Peacemaker  the  sire  of  Midnight,  Knick- 
erbocker, and  Hambletonian  Prince,  all  came  from  mares  descended 
in  the  direct  line  from  Henry  Clay — as  is  fully  set  forth  in  Chapter 
XIII. 

CASSIUS   M.    CLAY. 

In  1843,  Henry  Clay  produced  Cassius  M.  Clay,  from  a  mare  whose 
blood  can  not  be  established,  but  which  was  undoubtedly  of  the  very 
best  quality.  She  was  reputed  to  be  a  Mambrino,  but  without  any 
other  ])robable  evidence  than  the  locality  in  which  she  was  owned — 
the  city  of  Brooklyn — the  fact  that  in  appearance  she  resembled  the 
Mambrino,  and  that  she  disjilayed  in  an  eminent  degree  the  trotting 
qualities  of  that  family. 


THREE  GREAT  CLAYS.  375 

By  chance,  she  came  in  contact  with  a  little  Canadian  stallion  of 
no  great  quality,  and  the  result  was,  she  produced  a  colt  that  after- 
ward became  the  trotter  John  Anderson,  of  some  celebrity,  and  it 
then  occurred  to  the  owner  of  the  mare,  that  if  she  could  produce 
such  a  trotter  from  an  ordinary  pony,  it  might  be  a  good  investment 
to  send  her  to  Henry  Clay,  then  a  popular  stallion  of  recognized 
merit  and  excellent  blood.  The  suggestion  was  acted  upon,  and  the 
produce  was  Cassius  M.  Clay,  certainly  one  of  the  most  noted  stal- 
lions this  country  has  yet  produced. 

He  is  recorded  as  standing  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  trotting  stal- 
lions of  his  day,  and  such  fact  is  conceded  by  all.  He  was  a  brown 
horse,  and  lived  only  eleven  years.  He  produced  Neaves'  Cassius  M. 
Clay  Jr.  in  1848;  Geo.  M.  Patchen  in  1849;  Strader's  Cassius  M. 
Clay  Jr.  in  1852;  Iron  Duke  in  1853;  and  Amos'  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr. 
in  1854.  He  also  produced  the  stallion  Telegraph,  from  whom  came 
the  dam  of  Rarus.  He  left  several  other  sons  and  daughters  who 
enter  conspicuously  into  the  trotting  families  of  this  country. 

neaves'  cassius  m.  clay  je. 

Neaves'  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr.  was  a  brown  horse,  marked  as  the 
family  before  him  for  several  generations,  and  transmitted  the  same 
marks — white  face  and  legs — to  his  descendants  with  great  uniformity. 

He  was  exceedingly  well  bred,  and  was  a  fast  and  valuable  stallion. 
His  dam  was  by  Chancellor,  son  of  Mambrino,  and  his  grandarn  by 
Engineer  second,  the  sire  of  Lady  Suifolk.  He  was  in  the  stvid  only  a 
short  time,  and  was  destroyed  in  consequence  of  breaking  his  leg. 

He  produced  the  fast  mare  Cora,  a  black  mare  that  trotted  in  2:37f 
as  a  three-year-old,  and  was  afterward  lost  in  a  fire.  He  also  pro- 
duced Sayer's  Harry  Clay  from  a  daughter  of  imported  Bellfounder, 
that  now  occupies  a  position  before  the  country  by  virtue  of  the 
merits  of  his  daughters  as  dams  of  trotters,  second  in  that  respect  to 
no  stallion  we  have  ever  seen. 

GEOKGE   M.    PATCHEN. 

George  M.  Patchen  ranked  deservedlv  as  one  of  the  arreat  trotters 
and  trotting  stallions  of  this  country. 

The  pedigree  of  his  dam  is  not  known,  that  which  has  l^een  given 
in  the  Trotting  Register  having  been  overturned  by  the  editor, 
apparently  with  a  view  of  setting  up  one  in  its  place.  In  the  case 
of  several  mares  that  have  become  the  dams  of  great  trotters  or  sires, 


376  TUE   BASHAWS  AND   CLAYS. 

the  collateral,  evidences  of  locality,  date  and  ])l()<)d  (qualities  come  in 
to  supjilement  other  known  proofs,  and  in  many  cases,  establish  a 
pedigree  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  certainty.  In  the  case  before  us, 
but  little  beyond  surmise  can  be  indulged  in  support  of  the  pedigree, 
beyond  the  one  fact,  which  seems  to  be  certain,  that  no  one  can  posi- 
tively contradict  the  assumed  facts  on  which  it  rests.  According  to 
the  recent  version  of  this  pedigree,  it  is  claimed  that  the  dam  of 
George  M.  Patchen  was  a  chance  foal — begotten  by  a  two-year-old 
stallion  that  jumped  into  the  pasture  where  the  grandam  was  kept. 
This  two-year-old  stallion  is  svipposed  to  have  been  a  colt  called 
Head'em,  by  imp.  Trustee,  out  of  Itaska  by  American  Eclipse,  and 
was  a  thoroughbred,  and  exceeding  well  bred  if  that  be  the  pedigree. 

The  above  is  the  recently  found  pedigree  for  the  sire  of  Patchen's 
dam.  The  one  that  has  been  long  current  and  generally  given  by  those 
acquainted  with  the  horse  while  living,  is,  that  the  young  stallion  was  a 
full  brother  to  Trustee,  the  twenty-mile  trotter,  whose  dam  was  the 
famous  mare  Fanny  Pullen,  and  that  he  was  castrated  and  driven  as  a 
road  horse  afterward.  If  such  was  the  horse,  he  was  a  good  one,  and  the 
very  excellent  quality  of  the  blood  ought  to  have  been  visible  in  the 
immediate  and  other  descendants  of  George  M.  Patchen.  For  in 
trotting  qiiality,  the  blood  of  American  Eclipse,  whose  dam  was  the 
racing  mare  Miller's  Damsel,  by  Messenger,  did  not  equal  that  of  the 
part  bred  horse  Winthrop  Messenger,  the  sire  of  Fanny  Pullen.  But 
either  version  of  the  pedigree  must  be  regarded  as  equally  doubtful, 
as  the  man  who  owned  the  dam  of  Patchen  when  one  year  old,  and 
whose  brother  raised  her,  says  she  was  foaled  in  1838,  and  he  owned 
her  until  she  came  to  full  age,  and  sold  her  to  Richard  Carman,  the 
breeder  of  Patchen.  Trustee's  oldest  son  in  this  country  was  foaled 
in  1838 — same  age  as  the  filly.  If  she  was  by  such  son,  she  was  not 
foaled  until  1841.  • 

The  grandam  of  George  M.  Patchen  was  a  coarse  sorrel  mare  of  no 
mentionable  merit,  used  in  a  dirt  wagon  in  the  city  of  New  York* 
but  the  produce  of  this  union,  whatever  may  have  been  the  sire,  was 
a  light  chestnut  filly  that  proved  to  be  an  unusuall}^  good  one.  She 
was  driven  as  a  match  for  a  mare  that  cost  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and 
over  matched  into  the  bargain.  She  produced  Geo.  M.  Patchen  in 
184-9,  and  he  attained  great  eminence  on  the  trotting  turf,  and  reached 
a  record  of  2:23^.  His  competitors  were  Gen.  Butler,  Flora  Temple, 
Lancet,  Henry  Clay,  and  many  of  the  greatest  trotters  of  the  period. 
He  died  in  1854,  aged  fifteen  years,  and  left  some  very  superior  pro- 
duce, but  not  in  such  great  numbers  as  his  distinguished  sire. 


GOOD   BLOOD.  377 

He  Wcas  the  sire  of  Lucy,  with  a  record  of  2:18^;  Patchen  Chief, 
2:25^;  CaHfornia  Patchen,  2:27;  Mary,  2:28;  Godfrey's  Patchen, 
sire  of  Hopeful^  2:17^;  I^ady  Snell,  2:23^;  George  H.,  2:2G;  Henry 
W.  Genet,  2:26;  Rex  Patchen,  2:30;  and  Wellesley  Boy,  2:26i.  Also 
of  George  M.  Patchen  Jr.,  sire  of  Sam.  Fuvdj,  2:20|;  xMcMann,  2:2Sf; 
San  Bruno,  2:25^;   and.  Smith's  Patchen,  sire  of  Orient,  2:24. 

His  stock  are  all  stout,  and  show  the  Messenger  blood  in  its  most 
characteristic  form.  His  grandsons,  Sam.  Purdy,  Hopeful  and  Orient, 
are  large  horses  with  heavy  quarters,  broad  across  the  hips  and  loin, 
but  no  longer  from  hip  to  hock,  or  in  the  thigh,  than  the  Messenger 
standand  of  39  and  23.  They  constitute  a  formidable  trio  on  tlie 
trottino-  turf.  All  of  his  own  sons  that  I  have  ever  seen  have 
very  large  heads,  not  homely  in  form  but  simply  large  and  coarse, 
evidently  going  back  to  the  coarse  and  low  breeding  of  his  grandam. 
His  tendency  to  breed  back  toward  her  in  great  part  accounts  for 
his  attaining  no  greater  eminence  in  the  stud. 

Amos'  C.  M.  Clay  Jr.  was  the  sire  of  the  celebrated  mare 
American  Girl  that  made  a  record  of  2:16+  to  date,  the  fastest 
representative  of  the  Clay  or  Bashaw  family  in  the  direct  line.  The 
name  of  Iron  Duke  occupies  a  place  in  several  valuable  pedigrees. 

strader's  cassius  m.  clay  je. 

One  of  the  finest  bred  trotting  stallions  now  living  is  Strader's  C. 
M.  Clay  Jr.,  owned  by  Gen.  W.  T.  Withers,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
and  is  the  stable  companion  of  Almont. 

He  was  foaled  in  1853,  and  is  consequently  now  twenty-five  years 
old,  but  shows  no  visible  indications  that  he  has  not  as  many  years 
yet  before  him.  He  was  by  old  Cassius  M.  Clay;  first  dam  by  Abdal- 
lah;  second  dam  by  LawTcnce's  Eclipse;  third  dam  the  Charles  Hadley 
mare  by  imported  Messenger.  He  was  bred  under  the  following 
circumstances:  Dr.  Spaulding,  of  Greenupsburg,  Kentucky,  through 
Joseph  H.  Godwin,  of  New  York,  the  then  owner  of  Neaves'  Cassius 
M.  Clay  Jr.,  purchased  the  Abdallah  mare  in  New  York,  and  bred 
her  to  old  Cassius  the  sire,  and  the  mare  in  foal  was  shipped  to 
Greenupsburg,  Ky.,  or  Franklin  Furnace,  Ohio,  and  there  gave 
birth  to  this  horse.  He  in  later  years  became  the  property  of  the 
Messrs.  Strader,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Boone  county,  Kentucky,  and 
was  thenceforward  called  Strader's  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr. 

He  spent  one  or  more  seasons  at  Lexington,  and  then  was  in 
charge  of  George  W.  Ogden,  near  Paris,   Kentucky,   and    afterward 


378  THE   BASHAWS   AI^D   CLAYS. 

went  to  the  hills  of  Boone  county,  where  he  remained  until  in  1876, 
when  he  became  the  property  of  Gen.  Withers  and  returned  to 
Lexington,  where  he  ought  justly  to  have  lived  from  the  beginning 
of  his  career  until  the  close  of  it.  His  removal  from  the  Blue  Grass 
region  was  unfortunate  for  his  reputation,  and  more  unfortunate 
for  the  breeding  interest  of  the  whole  country. 

His  success  with  thoroughbred  mares,  and  with  those  highly  bred 
but  utterly  wanting  in  trotting  qualities  themselves,  stamped  him  as 
a  very  valuable  stallion.  I  have  seen  as  fine  trotting  action  in  the 
produce  of  this  horse  from  thoroughbred  mares,  as  any  I  have 
seen  anywhere.  A  bay  filly,  three  years  old,  whose  dam  was  old 
Midway  by  Boston,  the  only  mare  that  ever  beat  the  renowned  Lex- 
ington a  single  heat  in  a  race,  was  one  of  elegant  finish  and  superior 
trotting  quality.  I  do  not  know  what  became  of  her.  The  mare 
Jenny  Miller,  out  of  a  highly  bred  mare,  was  taken  to  Hartford,  and 
was  an  elegant  trotter  and  a  very  superior  mare.  From  a  thorough- 
bred mare  by  imported  Tranby,  he  jDroduced 

AMERICAN    CLAY, 

A  beautiful  bay  horse  that  was  made  blind  from  an  attack  of 
catarrhal  fever,  but  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  was  trotting,  totally 
blind,  in  2:35,  against  his  own  sons  and  daughters,  one  of  the  most 
numerous  families  in  the  State  of  Kentucky.  Magic,  the  sire  of 
Post  Boy,  2:26^;  Curtis  Clay;  Ella  Clay,  2:27i;  Union  Clay;  Gran- 
ville, 2:26;  Maggie  Briggs,  2:27 — were  all  by  American  Clay.  He 
was  owned  by  the  late  Thos.  L.  Coons,  of  Fayette  county,  Ky. 

Another  son  of  Strader's  Clay  was  Gen.  Hatch,  from  a  mare  by 
imported  Envoy  out  of  the  dam  of  American  Clay;  he  was  also  a 
successful  stallion  of  very  fine  quality. 

Another  son,  Crittenden,  was  one  of  the  fastest  young  stallions  ever 
bred  in  Kentucky,  and  is  a  horse  of  great  superiority'. 

He  also  produced  Kentucky  Clay  from  the  dam  of  Lady  Thorn, 
but  I  believe  he  was  not  very  popular. 


neely's  henry  clay. 


This  is  a  stallion  which  combines  two  great  and  valuable  elements, 
and  should  make  a  superior  stallion.  He  was  foaled  in  1809,  and  is  a 
handsome,  large  bay  stallion,  very  evenly  formed.  He  is  by  Strader's 
Cassius  M.  Clay,  dam  Sue  Letcher,  by  Alexander's  Norman.  He  was 
awarded  the  first  premium  at  the  Illinois  State  Fair,  and  it  is  believed 


strader's  c.  m.  clay  jr.  379 

the  produce  of  this  horse  must  show  results  of  value  to  the  breeders 
of  trottino-  horses. 

Strader's  Clay  is  a  brown  horse,  almost  black,  with  no  white  except 
a  very  large  clear  star  in  his  forehead,  and  a  sprinkling  of  white  hairs 
all  over  his  body.  He  stands  close  to  sixteen  hands  high,  but  has  the 
short,  close  leverage  of  the  Messenger  family.  He  is  a  pure  Messen- 
ger— one  of  the  purest  living. 

His  measure  from  hip  to  hock  is  37^  inches,  and  length  of  thigh  23 
inches. 

His  action  is  of  the  elastic  kind,  with  a  sharp  and  steady  stroke, 
reaching  his  heels  out  in  the  rear,  but  gathering  very  quick.  He  is  a 
pure  trotter,  and  at  twenty  years  old  could  turn  a  mile  track  in  2:30 
with  ease;  has  trotted  in  public  in  2:28,  and  is  capable  of  even  better 
speed.  But  for  his  age,  in  form,  gait,  temper  and  purity  of  blood  he 
ranks  in  the  front  line  of  American  roadster  stallions. 

In  the  color  of  his  descendants  he  does  not  follow  the  standard 
black  that  prevailed  so  long  in  his  own  family.  Bays  are  very 
numerous. 

The  following  extracts,  though  taken  from  a  breedei-'s  circular, 
correctly  state  the  history  and  prominence  of  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay 
Jr.: 

In  the  fall  of  1869,  when  sixteen  years  old,  he  made  a  public  record  at  Law- 
renceburg,  Ind.,  of  2 :  SO^sf ;  and  in  1870,  over  the  Buckeye  Course  at  Cincinnati, 
lapped  Pilot  Temple  in  a  heat  of  2 :  SO*^,  though  he  struck  himself  during 
the  heat  and  had  to  be  drawn.  In  1865,  he  was  driven  a  trial  to  a  wagon,  at 
Chicago,  in  2 :  26,  and  has  taken  numerous  premiums  at  the  Fairs  in  Ken- 
tucky, Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  was  never  beaten  but  once.  He  is  now  in  fine 
health,  and  looks  and  moves  like  a  young  horse,  and  can  speed  a  2:30  gait. 

Harry  Clay,  by  C.  M.  Clay,  1877,  his  second  on  the  turf,  made  a  record  of 
2:23*£,  and  won  the  2: 27  purse  at  Cynthiana,  Ky. 

.  His  prepotency  as  a  trotting  sire  is  proven  by  the  remarkable  fact,  that  out 
of  a  thoroughbred  race  mare  he  sired  American  Clay,  who  is  not  only  a 
trotter  himself  of  high  order,  but  has  sired  numerous  winners  of  hotly  con- 
tested races  in  fast  time. 

The  trotting  records  show  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  noted  trotters  ia 
the  male  line  of  the  Clay  family,  have  descended  from  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr., 
and  his  celebrated  half  brother,  George  M.  Patchen,  since  they  came  into  the 
stud.  He  is  the  sire  of  American  Clay,  General  Hatch,  Neeley's  Harry  Clay, 
Byerly's  Clay,  of  Owosso,  Mich.,  (public  trial  in  2 :  27)^),  James  C.  Norral, 
Clement,  Conscript,  Kentucky  Clay,  Katie  Clay,  Bertie  Clay,  Strader,  Sun- 
beam, Robin  Clay,  Bob  Strader,  Whip  Clay,  Minnie,  Crittenden,  and  many 
other  good  ones.  Crittenden,  at  two  years  old,  trotted  a  trial  in  public  of  half 
a  mile  in  1 :  19*£,  and  at  three  years  old  trotted  a  full  mile  in  2 :  29,  and 
trotted  a  quarter  in  33  seconds — a  2: 12  gait. 


380  THE   BASHAWS   AND    CLAYS. 

Strader's  Clay,  througli  his  son  American  Clay,  is  grand  sire  of  a  large 
number  of  fast  trotters,  among  them  Maggie  Briggs,  five  years  old,  record  of 
2:37;  Ella  Clay,  2:30;  Granville,  2:30i:f;  Alta,  2:32;  Arthur,  2:32;  Magic, 
2:33;  Puss  Thompson,  2:34;  Fleta,  2 :  34)^ ;  Gale,—;  Bill  Thunder,  2 :  343^ ; 
Carlisle  Jennie  B.,  2 :  36 ;  Curtis  Clay,  2 :  36 ;  and  Driftwood,  2 :  37. 

Alta  was  one  of  the  fastest  trotters  ever  bred  in  Kentucky.  He  died  from 
an  accident  when  six  years  old,  after  trotting  low  down  in  the  twenties. 

sater's  harry  clay. 

It  has  now  been  only  a  few  years  since  the  Clay  blood  was  held  in 
great  disfavor  by  many  breeders,  and  by  those  who  assumed  the  task  of 
enlightening  the  public  in  the  art  of  breeding  trotters,  a  matter  that 
is  in  most  cases  undertaken  by  a  class  of  persons  who  never  owned  or 
bred  a  trotting  horse  in  their  lives;  but  it  is  one  of  those  subjects 
so  easy  to  write  upon  that  any  one  can  do  it.  By  many  such,  and  by 
some  of  the  first  breeders  in  the  country,  embracing  some  of  the  most 
eminent  gentlemen  connected  with  the  horse  interest,  the  opinion 
was  entertained  that  the  Clay  blood  was  a  real  drug  in  any  trotter. 
They  gave  it  the  name  of  Saw-dust^  and  it  seemed  to  be  the  one  un- 
fashionable cross  that  all  sought  to  avoid. 

No  one  attempted  an  analysis  of  this  blood,  or  sought  to  give  a 
reason  for  this  prejudice  beyond  the  fact  that  they  had  generally 
gained  the  name  of  quitters,  as  was  generally  supposed  from  the 
low  breeding  and  lack  of  stamina  in  the  mare  Surry,  dam  of  Henry 
Clay. 

The  small  quantum  of  real  philosophy  exhibited  in  all  this,  is 
shown  to  advantage  more  aptly  by  the  fact  that  recently,  say  for  the 
past  three  or  four  years,  the  popular  cut  has  been  the  Clay  cross  in 
the  trotter,  especially  in  the  Hambletonian.  It  has  been  the  creme  de 
la  creme.  But  in  nearly  all  cases  it  was  based  on  general  grounds — 
"the  Clay  cross,"  that  was  enough,  and  it  was  without  limitation  or 
qualification.  More  recently,  a  gentleman  somewhat  in  advance  of  his 
cotemporaries  in  general,  in  his  catalogue,  a  large  and  fine  one, 
announced  that  the  record  shows  that  the  blood  of  Hambletonian 
combined  with  that  of  Neaves'  C.  M.  Clay  Jr.  and  that  of  Seely's 
American  Star,  has  given  the  grandest  horses  that  were  ever  bred  in 
any  country. 

I  have  treated  of  the  Star  cross  in  another  chapter,  but  would  like 
to  inquire,  what  trotter  ever  came  from  a  son  of  Neaves'  Clay  and  a 
daughter  or  granddaughter  of  Hambletonian?  or,  what  one  ever 
came  from  any  Hambletonian  sire  and  a  daughter  of  Neaves'  Clay? 


HAKRY    CLAY    MARES.  381- 

I  know  of  no  such  celebrity  as  could  establish  the  fame  of  an  entire 
family,  much  less  recall  one  for  a  long  time  consigned  to  the  shades 
of  obscurity  and  obloquy. 

But  to  come,  not  only  within  the  range  of  truth,  but  to  the  very 
truth  itself,  it  is  a  fact  undeniable,  and  now  teaching  lessons  that 
have  long  been  overlooked,  that  the  greatest  success  since  the  union 
of  the  blood  of  Abdallah  and  that  of  Bellfounder  in  Hambletonian, 
has  been  the  crossing  of  Hambletonian  and  his  sons,  on  mares  by  the 
son  of  Neaves'  Clay,  known  as  the  Sayer's  Harry  Clay.  One  of  the 
earliest  of  this  class  was  the  mare  Gazelle  by  Hambletonian,  and  she 
attained  a  record  of  2:21,  and  was  reported  to  be  even  several  seconds 
faster;  then  at  a  later  period  the  same  horse  gave  us  James  Howell 
Jr.,  2:24.  Soon  after  the  son  of  Volunteer,  Bodine,  began  to  show  his 
great  and  powerful  stride,  and  has  since  attained  a  record  of  3:19|-. 
His  dam  was  a  very  coarse  mare,  having  herself  come  from  a  mare  of 
moderate  pretensions  for  blood  or  capacity. 

Soon  afterward,  Prospero,  a  son  of  Messenger  Duroc,  came  out 
trotting  with  great  promise,  the  credit  all  being  claimed,  however,  for 
his  sire,  who  was  to  be  the  great  stallion  of  the  present,  especially 
with  Abdallah  and  Star  mares,  from  which  he  has  not  yet  produced  a 
trptter.  Prospero  vpas  a  black,  and  carried  the  white  strip  of  the 
days  in  2:20,  and  if  he  does  get  out  of  fix  now  and  then,  it  is  not 
due  to  any  quit  in  the  Clay  blood. 

Not  to  confine  the  happy  hit  to  the  Hambletonians,  Geo.  Palmer, 
son  of  Ames'  Bogus,  reached  a  record  of  2:19|-,  alongside  of  Bodine, 
for  company  as  well  as  for  sake  of  kinship. 

Volunteer,  not  yet  ready  to  abandon  his  claims  to  success  in  the 
same  quarter,  again  came  forward  with  St.  Julien,  a  horse  not  yet 
beaten,  and  who  attained  a  record  almost  in  his  first  races  of  2:22^. 
All  of  the  above  were  from  mares  by  Sayer's  Harry  Clay. 

And,  to  verify  a  prediction  thrown  out  by  me  in  my  original 
chapter  on  Volunteer,  as  published  in  t\\Q  JAve  Stock  Journal^  \h% 
big  mare  by  Volunteer,  whose  dam  was  by  Edward  Everett  and 
grandam  by  Harry  Clay,  has,  since  the  first  sheets  of  this  chapter 
were  written,  made  a  record  in  2:30  or  better. 

Finally,  it  appears  that  the  fame  of  Messenger  Duroc,  whose  name 
has  been  trumpeted  more  loudly  than  any  horse  in  the  land,  rests  on 
the  produce  of  mares  by  this  same  Harry  Clay.  Prospero,  Reform, 
Dame  Trot,  Elaine,  Hogarth,  Mansfield,  Miranda  and  Marengo — all 
came  from  daughters  of  this  Harry  Clay.  And  what  has  Messenger 
Duroc  to  show  outside  of  this  list? 


382  THE   BASHAWS   AND   CLAYS. 

The  value  of  these  mares  has  rapidly  advanced  until  now  they  are 
the  most  desirable  of  any  in  the  country.  Breeders  too  often  accept 
the  fact,  but  sfive  no  consideration  to  the  reason.  The  fact  is  of 
value,  but  the  reason  lies  at  the  true  foundation  of  all  value  in 
breeding  science. 

The  Clav  cross  in  general  was  nothing  but  a  Messenger  strain, 
deriving  some  advantage,  of  course,  from  the  increase  of  leverage 
and  muscular  conformation  in  the  quarters  from  the  mare  Surry,  the 
greater  part  of  which  has  long  since  yielded  to  the  superior  force  of 
the  Messenger  blood.  That  of  Neaves'  Clay  was  an  exceedingly  fine 
one,  but  not  equal  to  Strader's  Clay. 

Sayer's  Harry  Clay  was  bred  by  Decatur  Sayer,  of  Unionville, 
Orange  county.  New  York.  He  was  foaled  in  1853;  was  a  black,  with 
white  face  and  legs.  He  trotted  a  great  many  races  and  maintained 
a  rank  as  one  of  the  best  trotters  among  the  stallions  of  the  Clay 
familv,  but  adhered  to  their  standard  ideal  of  excellence,  that  of 
quitting  when  he  got  ready  to  do  so,  especially  if  hard  pushed  in  a 
race.     His  record  is  2:29. 

He  is  the  sire  of  Lady  Ross,  2:29f;  Surprise,  2:26;  and  of  Black 
Harry  Clay,  sire  of  Bateman,  2:27. 

His  dam  was  by  imported  Bellfo\inder,  and  the  cross  gave  him 
some  of  the  same  physical  conformation  which  is  secured  to  Hamble- 
tonian,  but  it  also  gave  him  a  power  to  transmit  this  quality  in  a  far 
greater  degree  than  Hambletonian  possessed  it. 

We  have  seen  that  Hambletonian  did  not  succeed  with  mares 
closely  and  strongly  in-bred  in  Messenger  blood,  as  well  as  Avith  those 
which  had  only  a  line  or  two  of  that  blood,  and  that  the  reason  was  that 
the  in-breeding  of  his  own  dam  and  sire  in  that  blood  gave  it  such  a 
preponderance  as  to  completely  overpower  and  obliterate  the  Bell- 
founder  element  which  in  union  with  his  Messenger  blood  constituted 
his  greatness;  that  he  excelled  most  when  the  equality  of  the  two 
forces  were  best  preserved. 

In  the  case  of  Harry  Clay  the  Bellfounder  blood  gained  a  better 
foothold  than  it  did  in  Hambletonian,  as  is  manifested  in  the  produce 
of  the  two  horses.  Hambletonian  breeds  back  to  the  Messenger, 
naturally  enough,  as  that  was  the  controlling  element  in  him — three- 
quarters  made  up  of  separate  and  powerful  lines  directly  from  Messen- 
ger himself. 

Harry  Clay's  sire  was  less  potent  than  Abdallah,  and  there  was  no 
known  reinforcement  in  the  blood  of  his  grandam.      Besides,  the  ana- 


BELLFOUNDEK   BLOOD.  383: 

tomical  conformation  of  the  Clays  as  derived  from  the  mare  Surry  was. 
such  as  would  afford  some  encouragement,  and  even  a  reinforcement, 
of  the  tendency  toward  a  larger  and  more  powerful  rear  leverage.. 
The  two  forces  thus  tending  in  the  same  direction  would  combine^ 
and  thus  in  greater  desfree  obtain  the  mastery  over  the  short  leverage- 
of  the  Messenger  blood.  The  result  is,  that  Harry  Clay  breeds  toward 
Bellfounder,  while  Hambletonian  breeds  toward  Messenger.  Hamble- 
tonian  was,  in  his  rear  leverage,  as  before  stated,  41  and  24,  but, 
breeds  in  the  majority  of  cases  back  to  39  and  23. 

Harry  Clay  breeds  24  and  40,  and  in  some  cases  41,  and  this  rein- 
forced bv  Hambletonian  extends  the  line,  in  leno;th.  I  have  seen  ai 
mare  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Harry  Clay.  She  was  15f  hands  i» 
height,  and  her  leverage  was  24  and  42,  and  a  thigh  and  quarter  o£ 
great  power. 

These  mares  bred  to  sons  of  Hambletonian  transmit  to  their  pro- 
duce this  Bellfounder  leverage. 

Volunteer  is  24  and  40,  but  Bodine  is  24^  and  41,  Messenger  Duroe 
is  41,  and  Prospero  is  41^.  Bateman,  by  a  son  of  Sayer's  Harry- 
Clay,  and  from  a  daughter  of  Hambletonian,  is  25  and  42.  These  facts, 
will  explain  much  that  before  was  not  clearly  understoo<^l. 

As  I  have  before  shown,  the  Abdallah  and  other  branches  of  the- 
Messenger  family  in  this  country  had  not  reached  the  degree  of 
excellence  to  which  it  was  brought  by  the  union  with  the  Bellfounder 
blood,  and  this  was  in  part  owing  to  the  improvement  in  leverage,  % 
matter  of  physical  conformation  wrought  by  the  Bellfounder  element.. 
But  whenever  that  element  was  deficient  or  overpowered,  there  was  a 
tendency  to  recede  in  the  trotting  powers  of  the  horses  bred.  This 
Harry  Clay  element  constituted  the  much  needed  reinforcement  of 
that  which  was  already  introduced,  but  not  in  sufficient  power.  The- 
lesson  is  an  easy  one  and  is  highly  instructive.  It  is  perfectly  demon- 
strative in  itself,  and  is  to-day  the  clearest  and  most  conclusive  testi- 
mony to  the  value  of  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  our  American  trotter^ 
It  is  not  the  Clay  cross  as  such.  It  is  the  blood  and  leverage  of  the 
Bellfounder  blood,  coming  through  this  Clay  channel,  which  is  simply 
another  line  of  Messengfer  blood. 

Moreover,  it  is  the  Bellfounder  blood  in  union  with  the  Messenger 
blood  in  a  channel  where  it  has  more  force  and  scope  than  in  that 
of  Hambletonian,  and  is  the  one  of  all  others  with  which  to  reinforce 
the  feebler  current  coming  through  Hambletonian. 

It  is  proper  for  me,   in   closing  this   sketch  of  the  Bashaw  or  Clay 
25 


384  THE   BASHAWS   AND   CLAYS. 

family,  to  refer  to  the  wide  dissemination  of  the  blood  coming  through 
that  line  in  its  intermingling  with  the  blood  of  other  families.  When 
we  take  into  view  the  number  of  noted  trotters  that  have  crosses  of 
this  blood,  they  seem  to  rival  any  family  we  have  ever  produced. 
This  is  owing  to  causes  and  facts  that  are  apparent.  The  Bellfounder 
family,  in  the  direct  line,  has  had  no  distinguished  stallion  since  the 
days  of  the  Norfolk  Trotter,  while  the  Bashaw  or  Clay  family  has 
been  as  noted  for  the  number  of  its  distingfuished  sires  as  it  has  been 
for  its  trotters:  Andrew  Jackson,  Long  Island  Blackhawk,  Henry 
Clay,  Cassius  M.  Clay  and  all  his  sons,  and  the  number  has  been  im- 
mense and  all  noted  for  success.  Cassius  M.  Clay  only  served  in  the 
stud  eight  years,  and  the  distinction  that  usually  attends  old  stallions 
from  the  better  class  of  mares  that  their  success  attracts,  was  lost  to 
him  by  his  early  death,  yet  he  was  the  immediate  progenitor  of  one 
of  the  largest  families  ever  credited  to  any  stallion.  His  greatness  of 
quality  may  not  have  surpassed  or  even  equaled  some  others,  but  the 
universal  prevalence  and  wide  dissemination  of  that  quality  gives  him 
great  value  in  the  historical  estimate  of  the  growth  and  development 
of  our  trotting  families.  The  controversies  that  have  been  waged, 
growing  out  qi  the  alleged  low  breeding  or  lack  of  stamina  of  the 
mare  Surry,  have  called  out  some  lists,  or  tables,  showing  the  position 
and  records  of  horses  having  crosses  of  Clay  or  Bashaw  blood  at  vari-. 
ous  periods  of  our  turf  history.  While  it  is  obvious  that  in  many  of 
these  large  credit,  and  often  the  chief  credit,  is  due  to  the  other 
families  from  which  these  animals  have  in  part  descended,  yet  these 
tables  are  not  wholly  devoid  of  interest  or  value. 
;  J  have  caused  a  table  to  be  prepared  showing  the  number  of  perform- 
ers in  the  2:30  list  coming  from  the  Bashaw  family,  not  Clays,  in  the 
direct  or  male  line,  and  another  list  of  the  male  descendants  of  Henry 
Clay,  which  will  show  the  numbers  and  the  great  respectability  of  this 
excellent  family.     They  are  as  follows: 

BASHAWS NOT    CLAYS. 

No.  Performers.  Heats.  Time. 

Bashaw  (Green's),  son  of  yernol's  Blackhawk 4  43  2 :34 

Black  Bashaw  (Blumberg's),  son  of  Bay  Bashaw 2  107  2 :19 

Black  Dutcliman,  son  of  Doble's  Black  Bashaw 2  10  2:28 

Jackson,  son  of  Andrew  Jackson 1  7  2 :28 J^ 

Jupiter,  son  of  Long  Island  Blackhawk 2  17  2  -.Id},^ 

Jupiter  Abdallah,  son  of  Jupiter 3  10  2 :26 

Carried  forward 14  194 


FAMILY   RECORD. 


385 


No.  Performere 

Brought  forward 14 

Long  Island  Blackhawk,  son  of  Andrew  Jackson 1 

Mambrino  Champion,  son  of  Eureka 1 

Mohawk,  son  of  Long  Island  Blackhawk 4 

Nonpareil,    "         "  "        .       "  .' 3 

Pearsall,  son  of  Jupiter  1 

Plow  Boy,  son  of  Long  Island  Blackhawk 1 

Son  of  Kemble  Jackson 1 

Trojap,  son  of  Jackson's  Flying  Cloud 1 

Wapsie,  son  of  Green's  Bashaw 2 

Washington  Jackson,  son  of  Andrew  Jackson 1 

Young  Woful,  son  of  Woful,  by  Long  Island  Blackhawk  1 

31 


Heats. 
194 

11 
4 

30 
8 
4 
1 
3 
9 

18 
6 
3 

281- 


Time. 

3:24K 

2:271^ 

2:25 

2:241^ 

3:29 

2:30 

2:39 

3:24?^ 

2:21 

3:27  ■ 

2:28 


DESCENDANTS   OF    HENRY   CLAY. 

No.  Performers. 

Alexander,  son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen  Jr. 1 

American  Clay,  son  of  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay. 3 

Andy  Johnson,  son  of  Henry  Clay 1 

Blue  Colt,  said  to  be  son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 1 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  son  of  Henry  Clay 1 

"  (Amos'),  son  of  Cassius  M.  Clay 1 

«  (Ballard's),  son  of  Jones' C.  M.  Clay  1st  3 

"  (Strader's),  sou  of  Cassius  M.  Clay  ...  1 

♦'  (Neaves'),        "  "  "        ....  3 

Charles  E.  Lpew,  spn.of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 1 

Fisher's,  "  "  " 1 

Genet,  H.  W.,  son  of  Godfrey's  Patchen 1 

Geo.  M.  Patchen,  son  of  Cassius  M.  Clay 4 

Geo.  M.  Patchen  Jr.,  son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 3 

Godfrey's  Patchen,  "  "  6 

Harry  Clay  (Sayer's),  son  of  Neaves'  C.  M.  Clay 3 

Henry  Clay,  son  of  Andrew  Jackson   1 

Henry  B.  Patchen,  son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 2 

Magic,  son  of  American  Clay 

Montauk,  son  of  Cassius  M.  Clay , 

New  Jersey,  son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 

Smith's  Patchen,     "  " 

Son  of  Geo.  M.  Patchen 

Union  Clay,  son  of. 

Victor,  son  of  Cassius  M.  Clay 


Heats. 
7 

18 

1 

3 

34 

150 

10 

2 

3 

3 

16 

3 

81 

36 

90 

32 

1 

8 

4 

2 

1 

13 
1 
5 
1 


Time. 

2 :271^ 

3:26 

3:361^ 

3:27 

3:331^ 

3:16,1^ 

2:37 

3:333^ 

2:25 

3:37 

3:36 

3:37 

2:181^ 

3:303^ 

3:17)4 

3:36 

2:30 

2:351^ 

3:361^ 

2:29 

3:39 

3:34 

3:39 

3:35 

2:30 


44 


534 


The  first  list  shows  thirty-one   performers,  and   two  hundred  and 
eighty-one  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  the  lowest  time  record  of  3:19; 


386  TUE   BASHAWS   AND   CLAYS. 

while  the  Clay  family  proper  has  to  its  credit  forty-four  performers, 
and  five  hundred  and  twenty-four  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  a  time 
record  of  2:16^;  and  the  aggregate  record  of  the  whole  family  shows 
seventy-five  performers,  and  eight  hundred  and  five  heats  in  2:30  or 
better. 

The  ability  to  transmit  the  trotting  and  improving  quality  adheres 
to  the  family.  There  appears  to  be  no  retrograde  as  we  advance 
from  the  original  source.  I  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  with 
regard  to  the  Diomed  blood,  that  no  stallion  strong  in  this  blood  can 
retain  his  capacity  as  a  trotting  sire;  that  of  the  descendants  of 
Seely's  American  Star,  no  grandson  has  produced  a  trotter  in  the 
2:30  list,  while  the  descendants  of  Henry  Clay  bring  out  performers 
in  the  2:25  list  in  the  fourth  generation,  and  in  the  sixth  from  Young 
Bashaw. 

The  great  age  to  which  several  members  of  the  family  have  lived 
—Henry  Clay  reaching  the  age  of  thirty — and  the  large  number  of 
stallions  in  their  ranks  in  each  generation,  have  given  the  blood  a 
wide  dissemination,  and  at  this  day,  crossed  with  the  other  trotting 
bloods,  the  Bashaws  and  Clays  maintain  their  position  in  the  front 
rank,  notwithstanding  the  surpassing  ability  and  success  of  Abdallah 
and  Hambletonian  as  sires.  While  the  other  line  of  blood  has  had 
no  stallion  the  equal  of  either  of  these,  the  number  and  great  respecta- 
bility of  the  Bashaw  and  Clay  stallions  have  given  the  family  a  great 
and  well  merited  prominence. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SMUGGLER. 

Smuggler,  the  property  of  Col.  H.  S.  Russell,  of  Milton,  Mass., 
was  foaled  in  Ohio,  in  1866,  and  is  now  past  twelve  years  old.  He 
was  bred  by  Mr.  John  M.  Morgan,  then  of  Franklin  county,  Ohio, 
and  near  to  the  capital  of  that  State.  His  sire  was  Blanco,  a  son  of 
Iron's  Cadmus,  and  he  a  son  of  Cadmus,  the  thoroughbred  son  of 
Amei'ican  Eclipse,  from  Die  Vernon,  a  daughter  of  Ball's  Florizel,  a 
son  of  imp.  Diomed.  The  dam  of  Smuggler  was  by  Blind  Tuckahoe; 
second  dam  by  Jones'  Oscar;  third  dam  by  Shepard's  Consul.  Such 
is  the  pedigree  given  to  the  public;  but  I  have  no  such  familiarity 
with  these  families  as  to  enable  me  to  speak  on  authority.  It  has 
also  been  said  that  the  dam  of  Blanco  was  by  the  same  Blind  Tuck- 
ahoe. By  reference  to  other  members  of  this  Cadmus  family,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  elements  of  speed  and  those  high  qualities  that  mark 
Smuggler,  have  come  out  elsewhere,  thus  depriving  him  of  the  char- 
acter of  an  isolated  or  casual  instance  of  superior  attainments  com- 
ing from  an  obscure  channel.  The  original  Cadmus  was  bred  in  the 
following  manner: 

By  American  Eclipse, 
First  dam  Die  Vernon,  by  Ball's  Florizel; 
Second  dam  by  Oscar ; 
Tliird  dam  by  Hero ; 
Fourth  dam  by  imported  Gabriel ; 
Fifth  dam  Active,  by  Chatham ; 
Sixth  dam  Shepherdess,  by  imported  Slim; 
Seventh  dam  Shrewsbury,  by  imported  Figure ; 
Eighth  dam  Thistle,  by  imported  Dove ; 
Ninth  dam  Stella,  by  imported  Otliello; 
Tenth  dam  imported  Selima,  by  Godolphin  Arabian. 

He  was,  in  1840,  owned  in  Warren  county,  Ohio,  and  there  produced 
Iron's  Cadmus,  from  a  reputed  daughter  of  Brunswick,  a  son  of  Sum- 
ter.    This  horse — Iron's  Cadmus — was  large  and  very  powerful,  with 

(387) 


388  SMUGGLER. 

heavy  fore  and  hind  quarters,  and  was  a  pacer.  Cadmus,  the  sire, 
was  taken  to  Canada,  in  1842,  by  Alfio  De  Grasse,  and  was  kept  until 
his  death,  in  1852,  in  the  vicinity  of  Toronto.  While  in  that  region 
he  produced  a  mare  that  became  the  dam  of  Toronto,  by  St.  Law- 
rence. Toronto  was  taken  to  Kentucky,  and  owned  by  Col.  R.  M. 
Johnson,  Jr.,  and  left  a  produce,  small  in  number,  but  which  will,  and 
do  now,  hold  an  important  place  in  the  pedigrees  of  some  of  the  best 
animals  before  the  breeding  and  trotting  public.  This  horse  had  all 
the  Cadmus  characteristics. 

Iron's  Cadmus,  from  a  mare  by  Shakespeare — probably  a  son  of 
Shakespeare  by  Virginian — produced  the  celebrated  white-faced  and 
white-legged  pacing  mare  Pocahontas,  and  she,  by  Ethan  Allen, 
produced  Young  Pocahontas,  the  trotting  mare  owned  by  Robert 
Bonner,  and  greatly  distinguished  as  a  mare  of  speed  and  trotting 
quality. 

Old  Pocahontas  had  a  record  in  2:17^,  and  could   pace  a  mile  in 
faster  time.     Iron's   Cadmus,    from  a  mare  by  Davis'  Flying  Morgan, 
produced  a  horse  called  Flying  Cadmus,  still  living,  and  lately  owned 
by  Mr.  Vedder,  of  Lake  county.  111.     This  was  a  horse  having  all  of 
the   Cadmus   and  none   of  the    Morgan  characteristics.     He  was   a 
dark  chestnut,   with   the   family  blaze  in  his  face,  very  heavy  in  the 
forequarter,    and    almost   immense    in    the    hindquarter,    with    very 
powerful  hocks  and   limbs.     He   both   paced   and    trotted.     I   now 
own    one  of   his   daughters,  the    da.m    of   which  was  by  an   in -bred 
Morgan    horse,   and    notwithstanding  the    double    cross  of    Morgan 
blood,  she  does  not  show  the  slightest  resemblance  to  the  Morgans^ 
but   is   a   rich  red   chestnut,    with   a  light  mane  and  tail,  a  broad 
and  irregular  blaze  in  the  face,  and  the  exact  image,  in  form  and  car- 
riage, of  Smuggler.     No  daughter  or  sister  of  that  horse  can  appear 
more  exactly  like  him,  and,  in  matter  of  gait,  all  beholders  agree  that 
such  an  unbroken  four-year-old  is  not  often  to  be  seen.     As  before 
stated.    Iron's    Cadmus    also  produced  Blanco,  the  sire  of  Smuggler. 
The  Tuckahoe  family  also  belonged  in   Ohio,  and  seem  to  have  had 
a  thoroughbred    ancestry,   and  some  pacing  tendencies.     The  horse 
Blind  Tuckahoe  is  said  to  have  been  by  Herod  Tuckahoe,  and  he  by 
old  Tuckahoe,  owned  by  Gov.  Ridgely,  of  Maryland.     Blind  Tuck- 
ahoe's  dam  is  also  said  to  have  been  by  Diomed,  a  grandson  of  imp. 
Diomed.     I  give  these  pedigrees  as  I  have  found  them,  but  can  not 
authenticate  them. 

When  Smuggler  was  two  years  old,  his  breeder,  Mr.  Morgan,  took 


IN   KANSAS.  '389 

him,  along  witJi  his  dam,  to  Kansas.  He  was  a  young  horse  of  great 
strength,  and  was  early  inducted  into  the  pioneer  service  of  a  Kansas 
farmer.  His  muscular  form  was  rendered  available  in  drawing  the 
plow  and  other  farm  work.  The  Cadmus  family  have  all  been  noted 
for  their  easy  saddle  gaits.  It  may  be  safe  to  say  that  all  of  the 
descendants  of  Ii-on's  Cadmus  take  readily  to  the  pacing  and  racking 
or  single-foot  manner  of  going.  Many  of  them  are  natural  jjacers. 
Smuggler,  at  first,  went  in  this  way;  and  possessing  an  organism  that 
suggested  speed,  he  soon  became  a  favorite  saddle  horse.  His  inclina- 
tion to  go  fast,  and  with  a  powerful  open  gait,  persuaded  his  owner 
that  he  was  capable  of  being  developed  into  a  road  horse  of  some  dis- 
tinction. Not  being  a  trainer,  he  rode  the  stallion  to  Olathe,  where 
two  young  trainers,  Messrs.  Marvin  and  Mitchell,  were  engaged  in 
handling  some  trotters  on  a  track.  He  suggested  that  his  horse  had 
some  talent  for  the  business,  and  proposed  to  apprentice  him  to  the 
trainers.  The  proposition  was  finally  acceded  to  by  Mr.  Marvin  and 
his  associate,  the  price  of  the  tuition  agreed  upon  being  a  one-half 
interest  in  the  future  trotter  when  developed.  This  was  in  the  latter 
half  of  August,  1872,  when  Smuggler  was  six  years  old.  He  proved 
an  apt  scholar,  and,  in  the  early  part  of  November  following,  he  was 
given  a  trial,  in  which  it  is  stated  he  trotted  a  mile  in  2:30.  During 
the  second  season's  training,  such  was  the  proficiency  of  the  pupil, 
that,  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  1873,  he  trotted  a  mile,  over  the  Olathe 
track,  in2:19f,  and  was  soon  thereafter  sold  by  his  schoolmasters  and 
breeder  for  the  sum  of  $!l3,000.  The  purchaser  soon  after  took  him 
to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  following,  taken  from  the  Spirit  df 
the  Tirnes^  supplies  the  then  current  and  subsequent  account  of  the 
horse  : 

In  a  private  trial,  in  July,  1873,  on  the  Olathe  (Kansas)  track,  he  trotted  one 
mile  in  2:19^;?^.  This  extraordinary  performance  created  a  great  sensation  in 
trotting  circles  throughout  the  country,  and  Smuggler's  name  was  in  every 
turfman's  mouth.  His  owner,  eager  to  realize  his  value,  brought  him  East, 
and  on  August  28,  1873,  he  was  given  a  private  trial,  in  the  presence  of  a  few 
prominent  owners  of  trotting  stock,  at  Prospect  Park,  L.  I.  By  accurate  and 
experienced  timers,  he  was  timed  one  mile  in  2:19;^^,  one  mile  in  2:21i^,  and 
one  mile  in  2 :21,  having  trotted  the  last  half  of  the  third  mile  in  1 :09.  Imme- 
diately after  this  performance,  Col.  Russell  purchased  him  for  the  alleged 
price  of  $40,000.  Willing  to  give  the  public  a  chance  of  witnessing  his  speed, 
he  entered  him  the  following  summer  iu  the  $10,000  purse  for  all  stallions,  at 
the  Bufialo  meeting,  and  on  August  5th,  in  this  race,  he  made  his  public  debut 
on  the  trotting  turf  His  opponents  were  the  "Black  Whirlwind"  Thomas 
Jefferson,  the  fleet  stallion  Mambrino  Gift,  Joe  Bvown  and   Pilot  Temple. 


39Q  SMUGGLER. 

Smuggler  was  quite  a  green  horse,  knowing  notliing  ahout  bis  business,  and 
liis  driver  was  afraid  to  score  in  company  witli  the  other  horses.  Owing  to 
these  combined  causes,  he  got  off  several  lengths  in  the  rear  in  the  first  heat; 
but,  as  soon  as  he  got  his  ponderous  but  i)owerful  machinery  in  motion,  he 
out-trotted  all  his  fleet  opponents,  and,  amid  the  ringing  cheers  of  the  excited 
multitude,  won  the  lieat,  by  a  length,  from  Thomas  Jeflerson,  in  2 :22i4.  Again 
<iid  he  get  oft'  fully  eight  lengths  behind  in  the  second  heat,  and  was  as  far  in 
the  rear  after  half  a  mile  had  been  covered ;  but  then  the  mighty  bay  began 
to  exhibit  his  resistless  speed  and  powerful  stride,  and,  cutting  down  hia 
rivals  in  front  one  after  another,  collared  the  game  and  fleet  Mambrino  Gift, 
^ho,  apparently,  had  the  race  in  hand.  The  next  moment  Smuggler  had 
passed  him,  and  dashed  under  the  wire,  a  winner  by  a  length,  amid  thunders 
of  ai)i)lause,  in  the  reduced  time  of  2 :20^4 — ^lis  exact  time  from  wire  to  wire, 
as  taken  by  watches  in  the  judges'  stand,  being  2: IBj*^.  In  the  third  heat, 
bad  driving  and  a  wretched  start  militated  against  Smuggler,  and  it  was  a 
hopeless  heat  for  him  from  the  word  "go,"  finishing,  fifth  and  last,  to  Mam- 
brino Gift  in  2:2214.  The  fourth  heat  was  still  more  disastrous,  for,  tired  and 
exhausted  with  needless  scoriug,  the  grand  horse  labored  hopelessly  along, 
tmd  was  distanced,  in  2 :23,i4,  b}'  Thomas  Jeft"erson,  who  also  won  the  next  two 
beats  and  race  in  2:2^%,  2:28V^.  Although  defeated.  Smuggler  was  not 
disgraced ;  for  a  green  horse,  he  had  trotted  the  second  heat  faster  than  any 
stallion  had  ever  done  before.  In  his  next  public  appearance,  at  Utica, 
August  12,  1874,  one  week  after  Buftalo,  he  was  beaten  by  Fleety  Golddust, 
being  drawn  after  the  third  heat,  as  he  was  quite  out  of  order.  At  Spring- 
field, August  18th,  he  won  the  $4,000  purse  in  five  heats,  beating  ten  opponents, 
the  fastest  heat  being  2:26;^:^.  He  was  beaten  at  the  same  meeting  by  Kansas 
■Chief  in  the  $5,000  purse,  being  distanced  in  the  second  heat,  in  consequence 
•of  his  bad  breaking,  in  the  slow  time  of  2:29.  At  Mystic  Park,  Boston, 
■September  2d,  1874,  he  was  beaten  by  Lucille  Golddust,  in  2:251;^,  2:22)4,  3:22 
-and  2 :23,  after  he  had  won  the  third  heat  in  the  fastest  time  of  the  race.  But 
the  latent  powers  and  amazing  speed  of  the  mighty  bay  stallion  were  gradu- 
.ally  being  developed,  and  on  September  15th,  1874,  over  the  Mystic  Park, 
Boston,  he  attained  the  height  of  his  tame  by  winning  the  Great  Stallion 
Purse  of  $10,000  for  the  championship  of  America,  beating  Phil  Sheridan, 
Henry  W.  Genet,  Commonwealth,  Mambrino  Gift  and  Vermont  Abdallah,  in 
•2:23,  2:23  and  2:20,  the  time  of  the  last  heat  being  the  fastest  on  record,  and 
equaling  that  made  by  Mambrino  Gift,  at  Rochester,  the  mouth  previous. 

Ill  1875,  on  the  4th  of  September,  he  opened  his  campaig-n,  at  Mys- 
tic Park,  in  a  race  with  Nettie  by  Ham])letonian,  -which  he  won, 
trottine:  four  heats,  his  time  beino-  2:29i,  2:284^  and  2:25^ — the  third 
heat  was  won  by  Nettie,  in  2:22^. 

On  the  16th  of  September,  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  a  race  against 
Sensation,  he  won  in.  three  heats,  in  2:224,  2:21-J^  and  2:22;  and,  on 
the' 30th  of  Sei>teinber,  at  Beacon  Park,  he  trotted  a  race  against  the 
stallion   Thomas  Jefferson,   wliich   lie    w^on,  in  2:25.^,  2:28   and  2:40, 


CnOWNED    KING.  391 

JeiFerson  having"  been  drawn  after  the  second  heat.  In  1876,  at 
Belmont  Park,  Philadelphia,  he  trotted  his  first  race  against  Judge 
Fullerton,  as  follows:  first  heat  he  won,  in  2:17^,  the  second  was  a 
dead  heat, in  2:18,  the  succeeding  two  were  won  by  Smuggler,  in  2:17 
and  2:20 — not  a  single  break  by  either  horse  in  the  entire  race.  Thus 
he  opened  his  brilliant  campaign  of  1876. 

At  Cleveland,  on  the  27th  of  July,  he  encountered,  for  the  first  time, 
the  renowned  Queen  of  the  Trotting  Turf,  Goldsmith  Maid;  also 
Lucille  Golddust,  Bodine  and  Judge  Fullerton.  Goldsmith  Maid  won 
the  first  and  second  heats,  in  2:15^  and  2:17^,  and  the  next  three  were 
won  by  Smuggler,  in  2:16:^,  2:19f  and  2:17^.  A  further  reference  to 
this  third  heat  is  made  further  on. 

On  the  3d  day  of  August,  at  Buffalo,  he  encountered  the  same 
list  of  opponents,  and  lost  the  race,  being  placed  fifth  in  the  first  heat, 
and  distanced  in  the  second.  On  the  10th  of  August,  at  Rochester, 
he  encountered  Judge  Fullerton,  Bodine  and  Lucille  Golddust,  and 
won  in  three  heats,  in  2:15f,  2:18  and  2:19|^.  On  the  25th  of  August, 
he  was  distanced  the  first  heat,  owing,  doubtless,  to  one  of  his  charac- 
teristic breaks.  On  the  1st  of  September,  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  he 
trotted  a  second  race  against  Goldsmith  Maid,  Fullerton  and  Bodine 
being  in  the  race  also.  He  won  the  first  two  heats  in  2:15^  and  2:17, 
and  made  a  dead  heat  in  2:16f,  and  then  lost  the  race  to  Goldsmith 
Maid,  in  2:17|^,  2:18  and  2:19,  but  trotted  a  close  second  all  the  way 
through.  He  trotted  against  the  same  field  at  Springfield,  Mass., 
September  9th,  but  did  not  win  a  single  heat.  Jjater  in  the  season,  he 
trotted  two  races  against  Great  Eastern,  but  failed  to  equal  his 
previous  time,  and  was  beaten  in  each  race.  In  the  first  of  these, 
Smuggler  won  the  first  heat  in  2:23;  and  in  consequence  of  what  the 
report  called  a  "  stereotyped  standstill  break,"  he  was  distanced  in 
the  second  heat  in  2 :24^.  In  the  second  race  he  lost  the  first  heat  in 
2:21,  and  broke  badly  in  the  second  and  third,  and  was  beaten  in 
2:24i  and  2:25. 

The  features  of  his  trotting  exploits  that  are  most  noticeable  are 
the  fact  that  he  can  at  times  display  such  most  extraordinary  speed 
and  endurance,  equal  to  any  demands  that  are  made  upon  him,  and 
the  readiness  with  which,  at  other  times,  he  loses  his  balance  and 
footing,  and  in  consequence  of  his  uncontrollable  tendency  to  break 
into  a  gallop,  can  not  be  kept  at  a  trotting  gait.  It  is  thus  he  loses 
his  races.  He  has  had  no  opponent  that  could  equal  him  in  speed;  but 
if  forced  to  a  break,  he  can  not  be  brought  to  a  catoh  again  until  the 
race  is  lost.     This  is  generally  the  result  of  his  unsteadiness. 


392  SMUGGLER. 

Smuggler  is  a  dark  bay  or  rich  brown  horse,  with  a  large  stinpe  or 
blaze  the  entire  length  of  his  face.  He  is  about  15  hands  3^  inches 
in  height,  but,  having  high  withers,  he  has  been  called  16  hands  high. 
I  have  only  the  statement  of  his  trainer  on  this  point,  and  suppose 
it  is  accurate.  He  has  a  very  striking  resemblance  to  the  great 
racing  stallion  Ijongfellow,  being  at  this  time  almost  exactly  the  same 
color.  He  is  not  so  tall  nor  so  lengthy  in  appearance  as  Longfellow, 
but  carries  very  much  of  the  latter's  expression  of  grim  resolution  and 
conscious  power.  His  barrel  does  not  seem  to  be  long,  but  he  has  an 
appearance  of  length  from  the  coupling  to  the  croup,  and  also  that  of 
length  of  quarter  and  limb  from  hip  to  hock.  His  exact  measure,  in 
this  respect,  is,  from  hip  to  hock  40^  inches,  and  length  of  thigh  24^ 
inches  (that  given  in  a  former  chapter,  from  memory,  is  not  quite 
correct);  this  measurement,  and  that  of  his  forelegs,  being  the  only  ones 
taken  by  myself.  His  hips  are  somewhat  prominent,  but  not  so 
much  so  as  to  appear  unsightly,  and  his  frame  is  so  massive  and  pow- 
erful as  to  call  for  some  boldness  of  outline.  He  must  be  a  horse  of 
great  weight,  as  he  has  an  appearance  of  extreme  solidity  in  every 
part.  He  is  compact  and  muscular  in  every  particular.  Take  the 
entire  horse,  from  the  forelegs  backward,  he  is  evenly  made,  and 
as  powerfully  built  as  any  I  have  ever  seen,  and  every  part  and  mem- 
ber, both  in  bone  and  muscle,  lever  and  carcass,  seem  exactly  adapted 
to  the  most  perfect  action  at  great  range  of  stroke,  and  with  perfect 
precision  of  motion.  His  length  of  limb  from  hip  to  hock — his  long 
and  immensely  powerful  quarter,  are  in  exact  and  proper  proportion 
with  his  powerful  thigh  and  gaskin  for  a  long,  true  and  steady  stroke, 
without  a  single  false  motion,  or  the  slightest  appearance  of  hobbling  or 
wabbling  in  his  gait.  I  had  heard  that  his  action  behind  was  uneven 
and  unsteady.  It  is  far  from  this.  It  is  of  the  powerful  and  demon- 
strative kind,  full  of  energy  and  force,  but  even  and  precise  in  every 
stroke.  He  spreads  his  feet  out  behind  wider  than  his  hocks.  He 
does  not  lift  his  hocks  high,  but  sends  his  feet  far  out  behind,  and 
apparently  as  high  in  the  air  as  his  hocks;  not  strictly  so,  but,  in  a 
degree,  he  does  so  to  appearance.  His  long  leverage  of  40^  inches 
from  hip  to  hock  enables  him  to  handle  his  long  thigh;  and  yet  such  a 
length  of  thigh  as  24:|:  inches  can  not  fail  to  insure  a  wide,  open  gait. 
He  brings  his  hind  feet  forward,  and  sets  them,  not  exactly  under  his 
body,  but  alongside  and  outside  of  the  places  marked  by  his  forefeet, 
with  great  reach  of  limb,  and  great  precision  of  stroke,  and  with  a 
power  so  terrific,  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  describe  it.     The 


HIS   MARVELOUS   SPEED.  393 

trotting  power  of  the  horse  seems  to  be  in  his  exceedingly,  muscular 
body,  that  works  in  perfect  harmony  with  his  quarters  and  limbs,  and 
in  the  exact  adaptation  and  muscular  harmony  of  his  hindquarters. 
His  stifles  do  not  spread  out  as  wide  as  either  of  the  two  families 
described  in  a  former  chapter.  They  spread  wide  enough  for  his 
purposes;  but  his  thigh  not  being  too  long  for  the  length  of  his  limb 
and  quarter,  he  has  no  difficulty  in  folding  his  members  with  a 
rapidity  and  a  precision  that  ought  to  go  far  toward  converting  these 
gentlemen  who  are  all  the  time  demanding  such  excessively  wide 
stifle-action,  and  such  elevation  of  the  hocks.  Let  me  say  just  here, 
and  finally,  that  it  is  of  no  value,  except  for  display  in  the  open  lot  or 
field,  that  a  horse  lift  his  hocks  so  high  in  trotting.  I  want  him  to 
send  them  back  underneath  the  sulky  as  far  as  he  can  reach  them, 
but  do  not  want  him  to  elevate  them  in  the  face  of  his  driver.  I  want 
them  to  propel  like  the  eccentric  of  a  locomotive,  rather  than  revolve 
like  the  crank  of  a  great  steamboat. 

The  head  of  Smuggler  is  a  plain  one,  having  only  a  slight  Roman 
deviation  from  that  of  a  first-class  thoroughbred  of  the  larger  type, 
and  hung  on  a  long  neck  that  curves  slightly;  but  in  action,  while 
trotting  fast,  he  reaches  his  head  far  out  and  lays  his  ears  back,  the 
top  of  his  head  hardly  appearing  higher  than  the  level  of  the  withers. 
It  was  in  this  way  he  came,  at  Cleveland,  after  being  held  in  a  pocket 
until  within  one  thousand  feet  of  the  wire,  when,  having  dropped  far 
enough  behind,  he  came  with  a  grim  desperation,  and  a  speed  that 
can  not  readily  be  forgotten  by  the  thousands  who  saw  it.  His  fleet- 
footed  and  never-faltering  opponent,  the  victor  in  a  hundred  trials — • 
the  Queen  of  2:14 — was  already  thirty-five  feet  ahead  of  him.  With 
a  gathering  of  resources  never,  perhaps,  held  by  any  other,  and  a  rate 
of  speed  never  equaled  on  the  trotting "  turf,  he  made  for  the  front. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  that  he  trotted,  for  six  or  eight  hun- 
dred feet,  at  the  rate  of  a  two-minute  gait.  He  trotted  then  as  if  he 
knew  he  could,  and  would,  win  it;  and  in  his  very  eye  there  was  the 
look  of  win  it  or  perish  in  the  attempt.  Woe  to  the  animal  or  vehicle 
that  should  come  between  him  and  the  end  of  that  race.  His  speed 
was  terrific,  his  momentum  was  fearful,  and  his  stroke  as  steady  and 
true  as  ever  beheld.  He  won  the  heat,  and  for  once  the  little  queen 
was  vanquished,  and  the  vast  crowd  that  witnessed  the  contest  was 
fairly  carried  away  by  the  excitement.  His  very  appearance  was  a 
sort  of  magnetism  that  electrified  the  thousands  that  were  present. 

In  the  early  history  of  this  horse  we   heard  much  of  his  breaking 


394  SMUGGLEK. 

and  his  unBteadines^,  and  we  had  much  theorizing  as  to  the  cause  of 
this.  We  were  told  bv  some,  that  he  lacked  in  trottino-  instinct,  that 
his  brain  was  not  level,  and  that  he  was  of  such  an  unsteady  tempera- 
ment as  would  forever  stand  in  the  way  of  great  success  as  a  trotter. 
I  never  saw  him  until  his  appearance  at  the  Cleveland  meeting,  in 
1876,  and  had  then  no  opportunity  of  inspecting  him  beyond  two 
or  three  minutes,  except  as  he  appeared  in  the  race,  and  then  only 
from  my  seat  in  the  grand  stand.  So  far  as  mental  traits  could  be 
discerned  he  was  the  most  tractable  and  steady  horse,  in  brain 
and  temper,  that  ever  appeared  on  a  race  course.  He  possesses 
a  nerve  organism  of  the  highest  order.  He  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  that  contest  as  eagerly,  and  apparently  with  as  intelli- 
gent an  appreciation  of  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  of  what 
was  within  his  reach,  and  of  the  prodigious  effort  required  to  accom- 
plish the  task,  as  the  skillful  brain  that  directed  him.  He  was  as 
thoroughly  under  control,  as  level  and  true,  in  all  that  could  be 
called  trotting  impulses,  as  any  horse  on  that  course.  He  seemed  to 
be  the  highest  production,  in  the  matter  of  equine  superiority,  that 
had  yet  been  achieved.  His  mental  composition,  his  quality  of  muscle 
and  fibre,  and  his  anatomical  conformation,  so  far  as  I  have  described 
it,  seemed  as  near  the  highest  quality  attainable  as  any  I  have  ever 
seen.  Nevertheless,  I  saw  then  enough  in  his  form  to  satisfy  my 
mind  that  there  was  a  cause  for  his  unsteadiness  that  could  not  be 
removed — ^that  there  was  a  lack  of  balance  in  his  organism  that  might 
be  kept  largely  under  control  by  skillful  training  and  constant  practice 
in  high  condition,  but  that  the  cause  could  not  be  removed,  and  he 
would,  eventually,  succumb  to  the  disadvantages  resulting  from  this 
defective  conformation — for  such  it  is.  The  fault  lies  in  the  forelegs 
and  forequarters.  He  is  too  heavy  in  front.  A  perpendicular  line, 
drawn  from  the  centre  of  the  arm  upward,  leaves  a  large  part  of  the 
weight  of  carcass  in  front;  he  is  very  heavy  in  his  shoulder,  breast 
and  that  part  of  the  neck  under  the  collar.  Less  weight  in  front  and 
more  of  it  further  back,  and  he  would  trot  with  an  easier  balance. 
When  forced  to  a  break  he  would  not  gallop  so  high  in  the  air;  he  could 
skip  along  and  regain  his  feet  if  his  forelegs  were  of  a  proportion  that 
also  came  to  his  aid.  But  in  his  case  there  were  two  defects  that 
both  worked  in  the  same  direction,  and  both  had  a  tendency  to  make 
him  fly  from  the  trot  and  go  into  the  high  gallop  as  the  easiest  way  of 
keeping  his  feet  when  going  with  the  velocity  he  attains.  This 
weight   of    carcass    in    front   was   one;    the   other,    and   the   great 


DEFECTIVE  CONFORMATION".  395 

defect  of  this  horse,  is  his  proportion  of  front  cannon  and  fore- 
arm. His  front  cannon  measures  12  inches,  and  his  forearm  30-^. 
Take  one  inch  from  his  cannon  and  add  it  to  his  forearm,  and  he 
would  be  in  front,  as  behind,  the  perfection  of  poise  and  the  fastest 
trotter  the  world  has  yet  seen.  I  inspected  Smuggler  for  a  brief 
moment  in  his  box,  just  before  and  when  ready  for  his  great  race  at 
Cleveland.  I  had  at  once  a  clear  conception  of  what  would  be  his 
forelejr-action  on  the  track.  Fullerton  was  in  the  same  race,  and  the 
foreleg-action  of  the  two  is  somewhat  alike,  only  differing  in  degree. 
Fullerton  lifts  his  knees  and  bends  them  much,  throwing  his  feet  out 
slightly,  and  bringing  his  feet  to  the  ground  with  a  sharp  stroke,  too 
severe  for  him  to  stand  a  long  campaign  without  evincing  some  degree 
of  imperfection  in  his  legs.  But  Smuggler  far  exceeds  him  in  this 
respect;  he  lifts  his  knees,  apparently,  higher  than  his  elbow,  and 
advances  his  forefeet  hut  very  little;  and  the  violence  with  which  he 
brings  them  to  the  ground  is  shown  in  his  hammering  off  two  shoes 
in  one  race — and  such  shoes  as  he  wears!  They  began  with  thirty- 
two  ounce  shoes  in  front  and  eight  ounce  shoes  behind.  Does  any 
one  ask  why  they  put  such  an  enormous  weight  on  his  forefeet?  It 
is  because  such  weight  is  requisite  to  keep  him  level  and  perfectly 
balanced,  otherwise  he  would  break,  would  not  hold  to  the  trot,  would 
gallop  or  trot  unsteadily.  Why  not  put  the  extra  weight  on  his  brain, 
or  ballast  up  his  instinct?  The  answer  is  obvious.  His  brain  is  all 
riffht — as  level  as  ever  carried  a  trotter  to  the  front — this  defect  is  not 
in  any  lack  of  trotting  instinct.  His  forelegs  are  so  constructed  that 
he  has  not  reach  enough  in  his  forearms.  His  reach  is  so  short,  and 
his  pastern  and  cannon  so  long,  that  he  can  not  send  his  feet  far 
enough,  and  move  them  fast  enough,  to  keep  pace  with  the  terrific 
speed  of  his  body  and  rear  propellers.  He  goes  with  such  fearful 
velocity  and  momentum  that  if  he  fails  of  a  single  step  in  front  his 
balance  is  lost — he  is  gone,  and  must  do  one  of  two  things,  fall 
jirostrate  and  headlong  on  the  ground,  or  throw  out  both  front 
feet  together  and  catch  level  on  both  at  the  same  time;  but  this 
is  a  gallop.  Once  in  the  gallop,  this  same  defect,  together  with 
his  weight  of  carcass  in  front,  causes  him  to  gallop  high  in  front;  so 
that  he  can  not  catch  again  until  his  rate  of  speed  is  greatly  reduced. 
All  horses  whose  forelegs  are  built  on  this  model,  which  is  that  of  the 
thoroughbred,  gallop  high  in  front.  On  the  other  hand,  those  that 
are  built  on  a  proper  mean  between  too  short  and  too  long,  such  as 
Goldsmith  Maid,  Albemarle  and  Rarus,  glide  along  smoothly — the 


896  SMUGGLER. 

front  legs  can  trot  as  fast  as  the  hind  ones — and  if  they  break,  it  is 
a  skip  and  glide  along,  half  trotting,  half  skipping,  and  catching 
when  they  like,  with  no  loss  of  speed  either  way.  This  is  not  brain 
nor  instinct;  it  is  leverage — the  power  of  mechanism  and  the  result  of 
anatomical  conformation.  His  front  conformation  is  against  him,  his 
great  trotting  is  in  spite  of  it,  and  the  result  of  his  complete  mastery, 
as  a  trained  and  skilled  gymnast,  over  the  disadvantage  under  which 
he  labors.  The  effect  of  this  detriment  is  greater  at  one  time  than  at 
another.  When  out  of  practice  or  condition  it  is  very  serious; 
when  on  full  work  and  up  to  the  highest  mark  of  condition,  with  the 
aid  of  his  big  shoes,  he  is  master  against  odds. 

In  forming  a  correct  estimate  of  the  extraordinary  organism  and  high 
trotting  quality  of  this  horse,  reference  must  be  had  to  the  perfection 
of  his  action,  the  immense  power  he  displays,  and  the  wonderful  speed 
he  attains  in  the  face  of  disadvantages  and  natural  obstacles  to  be  over- 
come, such  as  those  above  described;  he  is  simply  prodigious.  The 
success  which  attended  him  in  his  recent  campaign  was  all  that  could 
have  been  expected.  Fullerton  and  all  the  horses  of  the  American 
Star  and  Everett  families  having  a  similar  conformation,  can  be  so 
trained  and  brought  to  high  condition  as  to  be  able,  now  and  then, 
to  make  an  extraordinary  race.  Mountain  Boy  could  show  more 
speed  than  Lady  Thorn;  but  a  long  campaign  of  severe  contests  puts 
the  defective  machinery  to  a  test  too  severe  for  its  endurance;  it  can 
perform  prodigies,  but  can  not  last  forever.  The  strain  of  being 
forced  to  carry  shoes  of  such  enormous  weight  can  not  be  endured 
for  a  lengthy  campaign,  extraordinary  though  the  animal,  as  in  this 
case,  may  be.  Those  feet  and  legs  can  not  be  expected  to  endure 
such  usage.  Hence,  if  he  should  be  used  up  in  his  forelegs  long 
before  any  infirmity  is  discoverable  elsewhere,  it  would  be  no  more 
than  we  should  expect  with  entire  confidence,  and  detracts  nothing 
from  the  otherwise  great  superiority  of  the  animal  under  considera- 
tion. 

The  question  of  his  value  as  a  breeding  stallion  presents  itself  to 
the  mind  of  the  careful  and  enterprising  breeder.  Is  such  an  organ- 
ism of  value,  and  will  it  be  so  far  successful  as  to  be  regarded  as  au 
acquisition  to  the  breeders  of  the  trotting  horse  in  this  country?  I 
answer  both  of  these  in  the  affirmative.  His.  extraordinary  qualities 
will  be  in  demand  and  will  find  place  for  their  use  and  development, 
and  at  the  same  time  fields  in  which  the  shortcomings  of  his  organ- 
ism  can   be   supplied.     In  the  matter  of  crossing  trotting  families  of 


WITIIDKAWN.  397 

diverse  gaits,  more  harm  is  done  when  the  defective  action  is  behind 
than  when  it  is  in  front.  The  reason  of  this  is  obvious.  Front 
action  is  mostly  in  right  line,  and  is  only  a  matter  of  degree — of 
excess  or  deficiency;  while  there  are  so  many  forms  and  ways  of  going 
behind  that  a  cross  of  one  sometimes  spoils,  instead  of  amending,  the 
other.  His  action  behind  is  superb — one  that  can  be  engrafted  on 
any  family  of  trotters  we  have  with  good  results. 

As  regards  action  of  the  forelegs,  we  have  seen  families  that  will 
bear  some  modification  without  detriment  in  the  precise  direction  in 
which  he  is  faulty.  The  Volunteers  and  Almonts  all  have  room  for  an 
advance  in  that  direction.  While  1  do  not  join  in  the  common  wail 
against  these  two  families,  as  being  greatly  deficient  in  this  particu- 
lar, I  may  say  that  a  little  of  it  Avill  not  hurt  them,  and  they  can  be 
•crossed  with  this  stallion  with  entire  success.  I  do  not  find  this  to 
be  a  peculiarity  that  fastens  to  all  having  Cadmus  blood.  My  own 
mare  above  referred  to,  while  she  is  almost  identical  with  Smuggler 
behind,  is  about  11  and  21  inches  in  front,  and  has  as  handsome,  far- 
reaching  action  as  I  know  of  in  any  animal.  Not  being  able  to  say 
whence  she  derives  this  modification  in  her  anatomy,  I  am  unable  to 
say  how  far  it  proves  that  this  conformation  is  not  per  se  a  Cadmus 
peculiarity.  I  think,  to  avoid  the  force  of  this  objection,  care  will  be 
requisite  in  the  selection  of  mares  to  couple  with  this  stallion.  I 
would,  of  course,  avoid  those  of  American  Star  or  Henry  blood,  and 
all  others  of  a  similar  conformation. 

The  foregoing  sketch  of  Smuggler  was  written  and  pviblished  at 
the  close  of  his  campaign  in  1876.  I  prefer  to  reproduce  it  unchanged, 
as  his  career  since  that  date  has  so  fully  verified  all  that  was  then 
said  of  him.  He  made  several  races,  occasionally  showing  fast  time 
but  was  not  able  to  endure  the  constant  training  required  for  keeping 
him  in  balance.  He  was  liable  to  trot  below  3:16,  or  to  be  distanced 
in  the  race,  with  about  four  chances  to  one  in  favor  of  the  latter.  He 
is  now  in  the  stud  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  is  probably  entirely 
withdrawn  from  the  turf.  His  career  has  been  a  very  notable  one, 
and  the  wonderful  qualities  he  possesses  will  in  many  different  forms 
and  channels  doubtless  be  perpetuated. 

1  have  desired,  as  in  other  cases,  to  present  a  list  of  his  sons  that  give 
indications  that  they  will  represent  the  great  excellences  by  which  he 
has  been  distinguished,  but  the  list  has  not  been  furnished,  and  I  have 
not  the  means  of  giving  the  same.  The  chief  benefits  to  the  Ameri- 
can trotter  at  large,  will  be  derived  through  his  female  descendants. 


398  SMUGGLER. 

His  daughters,  from  the  best  stallions  of  other  families — the  Royal 
Georges  and  the  Hambletonians,  or  from  Governor  Sprague — will 
give  us  trotters  of  great  speed  and  better  balance  than  the  original. 

And  having  said  this  much  fairly  toward  the  horse  and  his  owner, 
and  faithfully,  also,  toward  my  readers,  I  dismiss  him  in  the  belief 
that  the  American  trotter  will  be  advanced  in  speed  and  character  by 
the  high  qualities  and  commanding  superiority  displayed  by  this 
remarkable  stallion,  and  feeling,  also,  that  his  character  and  make-up 
furnish  an  interesting  and  highly  instructive  lesson  to  the  intelligent 
and  inquiring  breeder. 


CHAPTEE  XXL 

GOVERNOR  SPRAGUE. 

The  black  stallion  Governor  Sprague  was  foaled  on  the  24th  day  of 
February,  1871,  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  was  bred  by  Col. 
Amasa  Sprague,  of  that  State.  His  sire  was  the  stallion  Rhode 
Island,  previously  called  Dan  Rice.  His  dam  was  Belle  Brandon,  by 
Hambletonian,  and  his  grandam  by  Bacchus.  His  sire,  Rhode  Island, 
a  brown  stallion,  foaled  about  1847,  as  is  stated,  was  bred  in  Ohio, 
and  was  by  Whitehall,  from  a  mare  by  Nigger  Baby,  a  horse  bred  in 
Virginia.  His  grandam  is  said  to  have  been  a  Jersey  mare,  bred  by 
Mr.  Manchester. 

This  is  the  account  as  taken  from  the  Trotting  Register^  vol.  I; 
and  the  same  authority  informs  us  that  Whitehall  was  bred  by  Mr. 
Manchester,  of  Whitehall,  N.  Y.,  and  was  by  North  American,  a  son 
of  Sir  Walter,  by  Hickory,  the  thoroughbred;  that  the  dam  of  White- 
hall was  by  Cock  of  the  Rock,  and  he  was  by  Duroc,  from  Romp,  by 
imported  Messenger.  It  may  not  be  unworthy  of  notice,  also,  that 
the  dam  of  North  American  is  said  to  have  been  a  fast  pacing  mare 
of  unknown  blood. 

In  the  blood  composition  of  this  horse  Rhode  Island  we  fail  to  find 
any  lines  that  connect  with  noted  trotting  ancestral  -currents,  except 
that  which  comes  through  the  dam  of  his  own  sire,  she  being  of  the 
Duroc-Messenger  union,  an  unfailing  source  of  the  richest  trotting 
blood  we  have  yet  reached.  The  grandam  of  Rhode  Island,  the  so- 
called  Jersey  mare — if  by  that  is  meant  a  mare  bred  in  the  State  of 
New  Jersey — may  embrace  lines  deep  and  rich  that  are  not  described 
to  us  in  the  faint  and  shadowy  outlines  of  the  pedigree  that  is  given. 

I  have  thus  gone  through  all   the  ancestral  lines  that  have  been 

placed  before  us,  for  the   purpose  of  learning  the  source  or  sources 

from  which  this  horse  Rhode  Island  inherited  his   trotting  qualities, 

which  were  of  a  character  that  do  not  come  by  chance  or  accident; 

2G  (399) 


400  GOVERNOR  SPRAGUE. 

and  we  take  it  that  the  doctrine  of  inheritance,  of  which  we  hear  so 
mucli  now  and  then,  of  late,  is  not  the  exclusive  property,  by  patent 
or  copyrig-ht,  of  any  one. 

I  have  but  little  information  in  regard  to  the  raising,  training  or 
handling  of  this  horse  Rhode  Island,  besides  that  which  appears  in 
the  record  of  his  public  performances  on  the  trotting  turf.  At  the 
age  of  seven  years  he  won  a  race  at  Cincinnati,  in  three  heats,  in 
2:42-i,  .2:40,  2:37.  The  next  year,  1805,  he  won  a  race  in  2:37-^, 
2:28f.  In  1866  his  record  was  2:36,  2:32,  2:36,  in  one  race;  2:38^, 
2:3ot,  2:39,  in  another,  a  race  of  four  heats;  in  another,  in  the  first, 
fourth  and  fifth  heats,  his  record  was  2:32^,  2:39,  2:37;  and  in  an- 
other, of  five  heats,  in  the  second,  fourth  and  fifth  heats,  his  record  was 
2:28f,  2:29^,  2:27^,  winning  against  Lucy.  In  1867,  at  the  age  of 
ten  years,  he  appears  in  one  race,  with  a  record  of  2:36,  2:37^, 
2:34.  In  1868,  when  eleven  years  old,  he  appeared  in  three  races; 
the  first  with  a  record  of  2:28t,  2:31:^,  2:32|-;  the  second  in  2:32^, 
2:34,2:35;  and  the  third  a  record  of  2:33^,  2:35f,  2:43.  In  1869, 
at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  he  trotted  and  won  in  three  heats,  in  2:30, 
2:29,  2:28i.  In  1868  he  won  two  heats  of  a  race,  in  2:25,  2:23^, 
against  George  Wilkes  and  American  Girl.  In  a  race  against  Gold- 
smith Maid  and  American  Girl,  he  won  the  third  and  fourth  heats  in 
2:26,  2:26,  and  the  Maid  won  the  fifth  in  2:26^,  and  the  first  in 
2:24^,  and  the  second  in  2:24f — his  best  record  attained  being  2:23^, 

This  record  is  notable  for  three  features  which,  in  connection  with 
the  subject  now  under  consideration,  are  worthy  of  special  notice: 
first,  the  number  of  heats  trotted  in  each  race,  showing  that  he  had 
unfaltering  competitors,  and  unfailing  capacity  in  himself  to  the  end 
of  a  protracted  contest;  secondly,  the  even  and  uniform  rate  of  speed 
which  he  displayed  at  all  times;  and,  thirdly,  the  age  at  which  he 
maintained  his  superiority  as  a  trotter  in  company  with  the  most  noted 
trotters  that  have  distinguished  the  American  trotting  turf.  The  fol- 
lowing account  of  Rhode  Island  is  given  by  a  well  known  driver  and 
trainer,  who  drove  him  in  his  latest  and  most  important  contests: 

Rhode  Island  was  a  dark  brown,  almost  black,  stood  16  hands  high,  and  had 
a  vciy  heavy  neck,  with  a  medium-sized  head.  When  he  was  iu  trotting  con- 
dition he  weighed  about  1,1U0  pounds.  We  kuew  just  how  much  he  weighed 
every  time  he  trotted.  When  he  was  fat  he  weighed  nearly  1,400  pounds. 
He  was  a  very  stylish-going  horse,  and  very  tine  gaited,  and  was  a  nice 
breaker  for  a  large  horse.  He  was  a  good  gentleman's  road  horse,  not 
afraid  of  anytliiug.  His  legs  were  very  good,  pretty  hea\w  boned  and 
short.    The  weakest  point  about  him  was  his  hind  ankles.     When  he  had 


RHODE   ISLAND.  401 

trotted  several  heats  they  would  begin  to  tell  on  him,  and  that  was  the  only- 
place  he  ever  showed  a  bit  of  tire  in  his  life.  He  had  a  very  fine  disposition, 
and  was  a  very  hearty  eater.  I  used  to  feed  him  ten  quarts  of  oats,  and  from 
two  to  three  quarts  of  corn  when  he  was  in  training.  He  was  a  horse  that 
sweated  very  easily,  and  we  hardly  ever  put  any  clothes  on  him,  except  a 
short  hood  on  his  neck.  He  was  a  horse  that  needed  considerable  work  so  as- 
to  keep  him  in  condition,  for  he  would  make  fat  very  fast.  Always  two  days 
before  a  trot,  I  gave  him  a  mile  and  repeat  in  from  '30  to  '35.  That  generally 
took  the  wire  edge  off  of  him,  so  that  he  would  n't  be  very  rank  the  day  of  the 
race,  otherwise  he  was  hot-headed.  He  was  a  terrible  horse  to  go  away  from 
the  score,  but  he  did  n't  pull  an  ounce  on  the  bits  after  he  got  started,  and  got 
fairly  agoing.  I  used  a  very  large  snaffle-bit  on  him,  for  he  had  a  verj^  wide 
mouth,  and  always  drove  him  in  an  open  bridle.  He  wore  no  boots  except 
on  his  hind  ankles,  to  protect  him  from  a  habit  he  had  of  just  touching  him- 
self in  the  joint,  just  a  kind  of  speedy  cut  on  his  shin.  He  wore  a  shoe 
weighing  a  pound  and  three  ounces  on  his  forward  feet,  and,  when  taking  hia 
work,  a  pound  and  five  ounces  on  his  hind  feet,  but  when  going  in  a  race  I  used 
to  change  the  hind  shoes  to  nine  ounces. 

The  first  race  I  drove  him  in  was  October  1,  1867,  when  he  beat  Leviathan 
in  three  straight  heats  in  2:36,  2:Siy.2,  2:34.  Just  before  we  went  to  Buflalo 
I  timed  Rhode  Island  on  the  Fashion  track,  mile  and  repeat.  The  first  mile 
he -nent  in  2:22^4^,  and  repeated  it  in  2:20i^.  At  the  same  time  we  timed 
Fearnaught  in  2:24,  and  repeated  him  in  2:21i4. 

On  the  27tli  of  October,  1868, 1  trotted  Rhode  Island  on  the  Fashion  Course, 
against  American  Girl  and  George  Wilkes.  In  that  race  he  was  a  very  fat 
horse ;  he  was  seventy-five  pounds  too  heavy  to  trot.  The  first  heat  he  took  in 
2:25.  John  Lovett  drove  American  Girl,  I  believe.  I  think  I  took  the  lead 
from  the  start,  and.  In  fact,  I  don't  think  I  was  headed  in  the  first  or  second 
heats.  In  the  third  heat  my  horse  broke,  and  lost  it.  The  second  heat  was 
trotted  in  2 :23^.  He  tired  a  little  in  the  third  heat,  and  kept  on  tiring  after 
that,  for  he  was  too  fat  to  trot.  I  thinl<  Rhode  Island  was  too  large  for  a 
successful  campaigner  on  the  track.  About  I5I4  hands  is  a  good  height  for  a 
trotter;  and  the  weight  should  be  from  750  to  850  pounds,  in  my  opinion. 
Hopeful  weighed  882  pounds  when  he  trotted  his  great  race  at  Hartford  this 
season.  Sensation  about  the  same.  Lady  Litchfield  weighed,  in  trotting  con- 
dition, 745  pounds ;  Nellie  Walton  weighed  825  pounds  in  trotting  fix ;  Orient 
weighed  977  pounds  at  Hartford ;  and  these  are  fair  averages  for  the  best  trot- 
ters. Rhode  Island  was  too  heavy  in  his  body  for  his  hind  ankles.  He  had 
as  good  a  leg  as  any  horse  above  his  hock,  but  he  stood  back  on  his  ankles 
like  a  running  horse,  and  he  would  always  tremble  in  his  ankles  after  a  heat. 
He  was  a  good  horse  in  a  race  for  three  or  four  heats — as  far  as  he  could  go. 
If  he  wasn't  over-matched  he  would  go  four  good  heats,  and  hold  out  well. 

Rhode  Island  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  from,  a  sudden 
attack  of  acute  inflammation  of  the  bowels,  but  was  regarded  as  in 
the  prime  of  life  and  vigor  at  the  time  of  the  fatal  attack.  He  has 
elsewhere  been  described  as  a  compact  and  evenly  built  horse,  of 


402  GOVERNOR   SPRAGUE. 

vigorous  and  muscular  mould,  that  trotted  with  an  even  steady  stroke, 
neither  reaching  far  out  in  front,  nor  spreading  wide  apart  behind,  but 
more  noted  for  the  precision  and  regularity  of  his  stride  than  for  the 
remarkable  display  of  great  apparent  trotting  action  which  is  so  attrac- 
tive to  many  amateurs. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  he  is  described  by  those  who  knew  him  well, 
as  a  horse  of  a  highly  organized  temperament — that  quality  of  nerve 
that  comes  from  and  accompanies  high  breeding,  whether  in  the  Arab 
of  the  desert,  the  thoroughbred  racer,  or  the  ever  sjDeedy  trotter. 
But,  with  all  this,  he  was  what  might  be  styled  in  a  man,  one  of  cool 
temper — a  level  head,  quick  and  clear  to  think,  and  prompt  to  act, 
but  so  evenly  balanced  as  never  to  get  oif  his  understanding — a  good 
quality  in  horse  or  man,  and  essential  to  winning  the  race  on  the 
track,  or  in  the  battle  of  life. 

Such  Avas  Rhode  Island,  the  sire  of  Governor  Sprague.  His  dam, 
Belle  Brandon,  was,  perhaps,  noted  for  qualities  of  equal  excellence, 
and  also  such  as  exactly  suited  the  sire  from  which  she  produced  her 
now  distinguished  son.  She  was  by  Hambletonian,  and  her  dam  is 
stated  to  have  been  by  Bacchus. 

From  her  own  sire  she  would  and  did  derive  a  physical  conforma- 
tion not  much  unlike  that  of  Rhode  Island  as  regards  evenness  of 
proi^ortion;  and,  in  addition,  a  nerve  or  brain  organism  well  calculated 
to  reproduce  the  exact  and  wonderful  harmony  that  is  one  of  the 
•distinguishing  features  of  her  level-headed  son.  She  was,  herself,  a 
mare  of  positive  individual  excellence,  and  was  a  trotter  of  merit, 
having  been  driven  as  the  mate  of  Sprague's  Hambletonian  for  some 
years;  and  there  is  a  sort  of  repute  following  her  that  she  was  able  to 
trot  in  3:30  or  better,  but  I  have  no  authentic  information  on  which 
this  can  be  based.  She  was  undoubtedly  a  very  superior  breeder. 
By  Volunteer,  who  is  himself  a  remote  Duroc-Messenger,  of  even 
and  uniform  physical  conformation,  not  differing  greatly  from  that  of 
Rhode  Island,  this  same  mare  produced  the  young  mare  Amy,  that 
has  attained  a  record  of  2:22^. 

To  those  who  have  studied  the  physical  and  nerve  organism  of  the 
Hambletonian  family,  it  will  be  apparent  that  there  Avas  no  great  dis- 
parity in  the  physical  conformation,  or  the  nerve  traits,  or  mental  organ- 
ism, or  temperament  of  the  sire  and  dam  of  the  stallion  under  con- 
sideration. He  is  in  no  sense  a  cross-bred  animal — in  no  respect  the 
'.•esult  of  opposing  and  counteracting  forces — in  blood,  mental  or 
physical  traits.  In  his  make-up  he  is  entirely  homogeneous,  and,  in 
this  respect,  differs  from  much  of  our  American  breeding. 


ERRORS   IN   CROSS-BREEDING.  403 

I  here  repeat,  in  verbis,  part  of  what  I  said  in  Chapter  I,  on  the 
subject  of  cross-breeding.  Nothing-  is  so  common  as  a  pedigree 
parading  crosses  of  all  the  noted  trotting  families,  which  the  o^vner 
exhibits  with  entire  confidence  that  it  embraces  all  the  excellences  that 
have  appeared  in  our  past  or  present  exj^erience  in  breeding  trotters. 
The  utter  failure  of  the  colt,  either  as  a  trotter,  or  a  reproducer  of 
trotting  excellence,  is  at  length  reached,  but  only  serves  to  impress 
his  breeder  with  the  profound  conviction  that  the  whole  business  is  a 
matter  of  chance — a  lottery  of  the  most  absolute  uncertainty.  He  is 
assured  by  some  of  the  learned  ones  that  trotters  go  in  all  forms — 
and  he  overlooks  the  imjjortant  fact  that  they  also  go  in  all  sorts  of 
ways,  as  the  legitimate  and  inevitable  result  of  their  multifarious 
forms — and  that  these  ways  of  going,  and  these  diverse  forms  are  the 
legitimate  and  inevitable  result  of  physical  conformation,  and  nerve 
or  mental  traits  that  are  not  only  dissimilar,  but  often  operate  in  dis- 
similar ways  in  breeding — often  operate  against  each  other — are  often 
inharmonioiTS  in  their  combinations,  and,  as  a  consequence,  in  their 
results.  Hence,  the  end  of  his  great  hopes  and  wonderful  expecta- 
tions is  a  sad  and  unprofitable  failure. 

We  cross-breed  too  much,  and  do  not  sufficiently  study  the  question 
of  harmony  in  the  physical  and  nerve  traits  that  we  combine  in  our 
efforts  to  produce  the  trotter.  That  one  conformation  or  one  mental 
organism  may  be  modified  by  combining  with  it  another  of  dissimilar 
elements,  is  most  certainly  true;  and  this  can  often  be  done  with  the 
best  of  results — but  it  can  only  be  done  by  a  union  of  elements  that 
will,  when  united,  or  while  uniting,  tend  or  work  in  the  direction  of 
harmony  toward  a  point  that  contains  the  conditions  of  successful 
operation.  By  this  method,  a  defective  physical  conformation  may 
be  relieved,  and  in  great  part  cured;  and  a  disturbed,  or  deficient,  or 
illy  balanced  temperament  or  nerve  organism  may  be  quieted  or  stim- 
ulated to  the  point  or  degree  called  for  in  the  level-headed  and  strong- 
willed  trotting-  champion. 

In  some  families,  the  anatomical  or  muscular  conformation  may  be 
defective  or  deficient;  the  front  cannon-bones  may  be  too  short  or  too 
long — the  same  may  be  the  case  with  the  forearm,  or  the  thigh,  or  the 
length  of  sweep  from  hip  to  hock.  There  are  families  which  possess 
deficiencies  or  excesses  in  each  of  these  particulars;  all  of  which  can, 
to  a  great  degree,  and  perhaps  to  the  degree  requisite  for  complete  suc- 
cess, be  corrected  by  judicious  selections  and  crossing;  but  the  first 
condition  essential  to  such  a  process  is  a  knowledge  of  the  exact 


404  GOVERNOR   SPRAGUE. 

state  of  the  defect  which  it  is  necessary  to  correct.  This  involves  the 
study  and  knowledge  of  diverse  physical  and  mental  proportions 
and  conformation;  a  matter  which  is  so  exceedingly  novel — almost 
incomprehensible  and  passing  strange  to  some  of  our  very  learned 
ones,  who  have  for  a  long  time  taught  us  horse  lore,  that  the  bare 
proposition  to  ascertain  by  actual  measure  and  comj^arison  the  relative 
proportions  of  different  animals  is  received  as  something  that  should 
stagger  and  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  these  staid  and  deeply  philo- , 
sophical  minds.  The  real  fact  is,  that  there  is  nothing  so  dishonest  as 
sheer  ignorance,  and  nothing  so  willfully  ignorant  as  downright 
dishonesty. 

I  can,  in  this  connection,  appeal  to  the  well-known  fact  that  our 
great  trotters  or  trotting  sires  do  not,  as  a  general  rule,  come  from  the 
long  and  brilliantly  drawn  out  pedigrees.  Take  the  stallions  from  some 
distinguished  sire,  and  from  dams  whose  pedigrees  are  six  to  eight 
generations  deep — every  link  bringing  out  the  name  of  some  distm- 
guished  family  or  animal — and  these  are  generally  failures.  But  Ham- 
bletonian,  from  the  mare  by  Patriot,  has  produced  the  first  trotting 
sire  of  America;  and  from  the  mare  by  Bay  Roman  he  produced  the 
renowned  sire  of  Goldsmith  Maid,  Almont  and  Thorndale  ;  from 
Princess  he  produced  Haj^py  Medium ;  from  Sally  Feagles  he  pro- 
duced Peacemaker.  Amazonia  produced  Abdallah;  and  the  dams  of 
Blackwood,  Thomas  Jeiferson,  Smuggler,  Dexter,  Startle,  Mambrino 
Chief,  Lady  Thorn,  Ericsson,  Clark  Chief,  and  the  most  of  our  great 
trotters  and  trotting  stallions  were  short-pedigree  mares;  while,  as 
before  stated,  the  long-pedigreed  stallions  have  not  generally  been 
very  successful — almost  proving  that  one  good  mare  is  better  than 
half  a  dozen,  and  most  clearly  showing  that  one  good  mare  is  more 
reliable  than  a  long  pedigree,  and  of  far  greater  value.  And  in  this 
connection,  let  me  ask  the  question,  why  is  it  that  so  many  of  our 
short-pedigreed  and  part-bred  mares  that  have  no  trotting  crosses 
whatever,  have  been  so  noted  as  the  dams  of  great  trotters  from  this 
and  that  particular  sire? 

Why  is  it  that  so  mam'-  trotting  stallions  of  strong  and  positive 
trotting  quality  have  succeeded  so  well  as  sires  with  fair  road  mares 
not  noted  for  great  trotting  qualities,  and  generally  coming  from  one 
or  two  thoroughbred  crosses — such,  for  example,  as  the  dams  of  Lady 
Thorn,  Lula,  May  Queen,  Music,  Lady  Stout,  Lucy,  Pilot  Jr.,  .John 
Morgan,  Jenny,  Woodford  Mambi-ino,  Brignoli,  Jim  Porter,  JSIolsey, 
Great  Eastern,  Grafton,  and  niany  other  superior    trotters?     To  the 


EARLY   PROMISE.  405 

mind  of  the  intellio-ent  breeder  the  answer  is  very  obvious.  These 
maret5  had  the  blood,  the  stamina,  the  highly  organized  nervous  tem- 
perament, to  give  the  trotter  high  quality  in  all  these  respects;  and  at 
the  same  time  they  carried  in  themselves  no  positive,  deejjly-bred  and 
immovable  trottins:  tendencies  or  inclinations  of  their  own  to  conflict 
•with,  combat,  or  stand  in  the  way  of  those  of  the  trotting  stallions  with 
which  they  are  crossed.  Hence,  the  stallion  had  his  own  way  in  this 
matter  of  gait  and  other  trotting  elements.  Hence,  Lady  Thorn, 
Woodford  Mambrino  and  Brignoli  were  Mambrinos ;  Lucy  was.  a 
Patchen;  Lady  Stout  is  gaited  like  all  the  produce  of  her  sire ; 
Ericsson  and  Clark  Chief  difi"er  from  all  the  other  sons  of  Mambrino 
Chief;  for  the  reason  that  Mrs.  Caudle  and  her  daughter,  while  good 
mares  to  cross  with  the  Chief,  yet  had  trotting  blood  and  ways  of 
their  own  that  they  refused  to  yield  to  him.  Hence  these  two  families 
have  their  o^vn  type.  But  it  does  not  absolutely  follow  that  long  and 
rich  pedigrees  may  not  be  found  in  the  dams  of  our  best  trotters  and 
trotting  stallioris,  provided  the  breeder  will  carefully  study  the  charac- 
teristics, both  mental  and  physical,  that  enter  into  his  chfjsen  combi- 
nation. Unless  this  is  done — and  in  most  instances  it  is  not — the 
result  will  be  failure. 

Violent  or  remote  crosses  must  be  avoided,  for  the  very  reason  that 
they  will  bring  together  elements  both  of  physical  conformation  and 
nervous  organism  that  will  not  harmonize,  but  will  operate  against  and 
neutralize  each  other. 

The  stallion  now  under  consideration  afi^ords  the  best  subject  for  illus- 
trating some  of  the  foregoing  principles  of  correct  breeding  that  I 
have  yet  reached.  I  call  particular  attention  to  their  application  in 
delineating  the  character  and  make-up  of  this  horse. 

Governor  Sprague,  as  stated  previously,  was  bred  and  foaled  in 
Rhode  Island.  At  or  before  the  age  of  one  year  he  was  sent,  with 
other  stock,  to  the  State  of  Kansas.  In  July,  1873,  after  he  was  two 
years  old,  he  was  broken  to  harness,  but  had  no  further  handling. 
He  gave  evidence  of  much  aptitude  for  the  trotting  gait,  and  a  high 
degree  of  speed,  and  in  October  of  that  year,  such  was  his  early 
promise,  that  he  was  sold  for  $1,500,  to  Messrs.  Higbee  Bros,  and  A. 
C.  Babcock,  of  Canton,  111.  It  is  stated  that  after  his  purchase  he  was 
taken  to  his  new  home  at  Canton,  and  kept  in  a  large  box-stall  until 
he  was  three  years  old,  without  further  work.  It  is  further  said  that 
his  work  as  a  three-year-old  was  very  light,  merely  amounting  to  a  fair 
-degree  of  exercise  with   a   view   to   accustom   him   to  the  harness. 


406  GOVERNOR   SPRAGUE. 

During  the  next  year,  as  a  four-year-old,  he  was  kept  in  train,  but,  as 
is  alleged,  never  driven  at  speed  a  full  mile  except  on  one  occasion, 
when  he  showed  2:28;  also  made  two  half-mile  trials,  each  in  1:12,  and 
all  on  a  half-mile  track. 

In  the  last  week  in  July,  of  that  year,  he  was  taken  to  Cleveland, 
Buffalo  and  Utica,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  his  pre- 
cocity and  extraordinary  ability  as  a  young  trotter.  He  was  jogged 
two  miles  at  Cleveland,  by  the  side  of  another  horse,  and  was  then 
driven  for  speed  the  third  mile  without  stopping  ;  and  he  made  it  in 
2:2(jt,  in  the  easiest  apparent  manner,  coming  out  as  he  does  from  all 
his  efforts,  as  though  it  was  merely  an  exercising  gait. 

At  Buffalo,  about  one  week  later,  he  was  jogged  around  the  track, 
and  then  sent  at  speed  a  full  mile  in  2:21^,  making  the  last  half  a  half- 
second  faster  than  the  first  one,  and  finishing  the  third  quarter  in  34 
seconds — a  2:16  gait  for  a  four-year-old.  Again,  shortly  thereafter, 
at  the  Utica  meeting,  he  made  another  public  trial,  in  which  he  marked 
2:21|^.  He  was  afterward  taken  home  and  withdrawn  from  training 
until  the  following  spring,  when  it  was  resumed. 

He  made  his  first  appearance  in  a  race  at  Dexter  Park,  July 
20th,  1875,  when  he  appeared  against  seven  competitors.  From  his 
demeanor  then  no  one  would  have  thought  he  was  anything  but  a 
veteran  of  many  campaigns.  The  presence  of  other  horses  or  that  of 
the  crowd  had  no  more  visible  effect  on  him  than  would  their  absence. 
He  carried  himself  in  splendid  stjde;  apparently  going  more  for  the 
purpose  of  exhibiting  the  nonchalance  of  himself  and  driver  than  for 
that  of  making  fast  time  or  winning  a  race.  In  fact,  his  motion  was 
so  easy — so  natural,  and  requiring  so  little  effort  or  control  from  his 
driver — that  no  one  would  have  realized  the  speed  at  which  he  went 
but  for  the  efforts  of  his  competitors,  and  the  still  more  authoritative 
decision  of  the  watch.  He  passed  through  the  crowd  and  away  from 
them  at  an  easy  but  rajoid  rate,  and  was  at  the  half-mile  in  1 :08,  and 
so  far  ahead  of  all  others  that  they  were  certain  to  have  been  dis- 
tanced if  he  had  not  been  arrested  in  his  flight  of  speed.  His  driver 
then  gave  him  a  sudden  but  severe  pull,  forced  him  to  a  break,  and 
held  him  in,  coming  the  last  half  at  such  a  jog  as  to  let  the  worsted  fol- 
lowers cross  the  distance  line  while  he  was  brought  almost  to  a  walk. 

This  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  him,  and  I  then  thought,  and  still 
think,  that  he  could  have  made  2:17  or  2:18  without  a  break.  He 
really  seemed  to  make  no  effort  at  all.  On  the  next  day  after  this,  his 
first  race,  he  was  sold  by  his  owner  to  Hon.  J.  I.  Case,  of  Racine,  Wis., 


BRILLIANT   CAREER.  407 

for  the  sum  of  $37,500,  cash,  and  was  at  once  shipped  to  Racine  by 
his  new  and  present  owner,  with  the  determination  to  abandon  several 
Eastern  engagements  in  Avhich  he  had  been  entered.  Mr.  Case  sooa 
thereafter  rescinded  this  decision,  and  ordered  him  to  Buffalo,  to 
which  place  he  was  at  once  shipped;  and  thence,  early  in  August,  to 
Rochester — all  within  about  two  weeks  of  his  Dexter  Park  i^erform- 
ance.  At  Rochester,  he  appeared  in  the  second  race  of  his  life,  and 
won  it  in  three  straiglit  heats, in  2:24,  2:21^,  2:23,  against  Mambrino 
Kate,  Hattie  R.  and  Rose;  at  every  part  of  the  race  displaying  the 
same  coolness  and  ease  which  at  all  times  mark  his  trotting  perform- 
ances. Thence  to  Poughkeepsie,  the  same  month,  where  he  entered 
the  lists  with  Mambrino  Kate,  Irene,  Carrie  N.  and  Big  Fellow.  He 
gave  the  first  heat  to  Kate,  in  2:264-,  and  then  won  the  race  in  2:20^, 
2:24^,  2:21^,  in  the  same  incomparable  style. 

From  this  last  field  of  unbroken  success  he  went  to  Philadelphia; 
and  at  the  grand  Centennial  failure  he  appeared  in  the  Independence 
Race  against  Blackwood  Jr.,  tlie  first  of  his  family,  Elsie  Good,  the 
fast  daughter  of  Blue  Bull,  and  Ladv  Mills,  the  favorite  daus^hter  of 
Chosroes.  He  won  this  race  in  three  heats,  in  2:244-,  2:26,  2:27, 
although  the  weather  and  lack  of  condition  were  telling  badly  against 
him.     His  withdrawal  before  the  race  was  asked  and  refused. 

The  account  of  this  race  which  appeared  in  the  National  Lwe-8tock 
Journal  for  November,  is  as  follows: 

The  Independence  race  for  five-year-olds  attracted  a  good  deal  of  interest, 
from  the  fact  that  upon  this  occasion  the  great  black  stallions  Gov.  Sprague 
and  Blackwood  Jr.,  for  the  first  time,  were  to  try  conclusions.  It  was  gener- 
ally known  that  the  former  was  out  of  condition,  and  among  the  betting 
fraternity  Blackwood  Jr.  was  made  a  favorite  on  the  evening  preceding  the. 
race ;  but  the  result  upset  all  of  their  calculations.  On  the  first  heat  Black- 
wood Jr.  took  the  lead,  closely  pressed  by  Governor  Sprague,  and  kept  his 
position,  trotting  rather  unsteadily  and  breaking  often,  until  they  entered  the 
home-stretch,  when  Doble  sent  Governor  Sprague  to  the  front  and  won  the 
heat  by  half  a  length.  In  the  remaining  two  heats  Governor  Sprague  took 
the  lead  from  the  start  and  kept  it  to  the  wire.  Blackwood  Jr.  was  very 
unsteady  throughout  the  race,  while  Governor  Sprague  appeared  perfectly 
unconcerned  and  never  made  a  break. 

At  the  same  meeting  he  trotted,  against  adverse  weather  and  ill 
condition,  for  the  National  Cujd,  competing  with  Blackwood  Jr.  and 
the  veteran  Sam  Purdy.  It  was  conceded  by  all  that  he  was  unfit  to 
start;  and  the  only  day  that  was  in  any  degree  favorable  for  such  a 
contest  was  the  one  on  which  his  famous,  and  in  this  race  victorious, 


403  GOVEKXOE   SPRAGUE. 

competitor   trotted.      Each   horse    made    separate   trials.     Governor 
Sprague  made  one  trial  September  27th,  in  2:25^,  and  a  second  and 
third  on  October  2d,  in  2:25f,  2:2.3f.     Sam  Purdy  made   three  trials 
on  different  days,  in  2:24^,  2:20,  2:27;  and  Blackwood  Jr.,  on    the 
20th  of  September,  made  two  trials,  and  Avon  the  cup,  in  2:23,  2:23-^. 
Governor  Sprague  is  a  black  stallion,  no  white.     He  is  fifteen  hands 
two  inches  in  height, but  has  withers  that  rise  one  inch  higher  than  those 
of  Blackwood  and  Swigert;  his  shoulder-blade  not  coming  to  the  top 
of  the  withers  as   clearly  as  in  those  two  stallions — as  compared  with 
them  he  is  only  properly  fifteen  hands  one  inch  in-  height.     He  has  a 
short,  broad  back,  and  an  appearance  of  more  muscle  along  the  sides 
of  the  backbone,  covering  out  over  the  upper  joart  of  the  ribs,  than  is 
to  be  seen   in  many  others.     His  rump   droops  but  slightly,  and  his 
croup  does  not  stand  out  quite  so  high  as  in  those  of  the  more  positive 
Messenger  type.     In  this  particular,  and  that  of  the  withers  and  top  of 
the  shoulder,  he  does  not  follow  the  Messenger  type  in  clear  and  posi- 
tive degree  as  compared  with  other  stallions  named  in  these  chapters; 
although  the    distinguishing   features  of    Messenger   are  elsewhere 
clearly  and  deeply  stamped.     His  head  and  forehead  are  of  the  true 
Messenger  mould,   and  his   close   and   compact   form   and   muscular 
frame-work,  his  sinewy  limbs,  his  grim  toughness  of  fibre,  all  go  to 
show  an  intensity  of  qviality  rarely  found  in  a  trotter  that  does  not 
have  a  deep  and  solid  backing  in  the  blood  of  old  Messenger.     He 
has  nothing  of  the  Duroc  texture — not  a  soft  spot  in  him.     His  legs 
show  no  gummy,  non-absorbing  quality.    His  ankles  show  the  appear- 
ance of  having  been  at  work,  and  the  skin   and  ligaments  about  and 
over  the  joints  show  a  sort  of  thickening;  but  it  is  not  that  kind  that 
indicates  a  jiresence  of  unabsorbed  secretion,  but  rather  the  hardening 
and  toue-henino;  of  the  whole  fibre,  as  the  hand  of  the  blacksmith  and 
stonecutter  thickens  and  toughens  with  the  work  which  brings  this 
change  of  texture — and  with  it  the  capacity   for  further  work  and 
greater  endurance. 

He  is  none  of  vour  band-box  stallions.  He  shows  well  in  his  clean 
and  comfortable  box-stall;  but  best  of  all,  out  on  the  road  or  track  in 
a  sleigh  or  a  sulky.  Aiid  distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view  in 
another  sense  than  that  conceived  by  the  poet.  "He  won't  do  for  a 
hundred  miles  on  a  turnpike  road,"  said  a  gentleman  of  great  intelli- 
gence, regarding  a  prominent  stallion,  but  he  did  not  and  could  not 
thus  speak  of  Governor  Sprague.  That  is  the  kind  of  work  that  will 
bring  out  in  strong  degree  his  pre-eminent  quality.     He   has  not  the 


A    MODEL   FORM.  409 

appearance  of  a  large  horse;  but  when  I  saw  him  after  his  return 
from  his  Eastern  contests,  in  187G,  I  visited  him,  in  company  with 
a  gentleman  who  is  one  of  the  best  judges  of  quality  in  a  real  good 
horse  I  know  of,  and  his  first  word  was  an  expression  of  surpiise. 
"Why,"  said  he,  "  he  will  do.     You  can  hitch  him  to  a  stone-boat." 

The  physical  conformation  of  Governor  Sprague  is  well  worthy  our 
most  attentive  and  careful  study.  Calling  attention  again  to  the 
statement  so  often  made  that  trotters  go  in  all  forms,  let  us  also  call 
•especial  attention  to  the  other  fact,  that  they  also  go  in  all  sorts  of 
ways — from  the  very  worst  possible  for  the  trotting  gaft,  to  the  best 
that  has  yet  been  attained.  Let  me  also  here  repeat  the  important 
■enunciation,  that  this  matter  of  gait  is,  in  the  greater  part,  yea,  almost 
altogether,  the  result  of  physical  conformation,  and  the  very  reason 
that  trotters  go  in  all  sorts  of  ways  is  the  same  fact  that  they  go  in  all 
forms.  But,  as  there  is  a  way  of  going  that  approaches  perfection, 
so  there  is  a  form  that  also  approaches  perfection,  and  the  two  are 
found  together,  the  one  the  result  of  the  other. 

Governor  Sprague  is  a  horse  of  medium  size — weighs  1,0G0  pounds, 
and  in  full  form  may  reach  1,100;  not  over  15  hands  2  inches,  and  not 
so  high  on  the  rump  as  on  the  withers.  His  neck  is  30  inches  in  length, 
and  his  back  28  inches.  His  even,  steady,  trotting  gait — to  which  I 
shall  call  attention  hereafter — is  the  result  of  his  leverao-e,  both  front 
and  rear,  and  the  one  is  as  important  and  as  essential  to  the  perfectly 
gaited  horse  as  the  other.  In  the  progress  of  these  chapters,  I  have 
called  attention  to  the  faults  as  w^ell  as  the  excellences  of  each  animal, 
in  each  case  pointing  to  and  suggesting  the  perfect  model,  if  it  could 
be  anywhere  found.  I  need  not  recur  to  each  of  these  separately, 
farther  than  to  say  that,  in  some  cases,  I  found  defective  action  in  front 
as  the  result  of  a  misproportion  in  the  relative  length  of  the  forearm 
and  the  front  cannon;  that  in  some  it  Avas  found  that  a  thigh  relatively 
too  long  produced  too  much  action,  or  excessive  action,  for  the 
smoothly- working  and  lasting  trotter;  in  some,  both  of  these  defects, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  were  combined.  If  the  principles  there 
■enunciated  were  correct,  they  pointed  to  or  suggested  that  there  might 
be  a  faultless  model,  if  any  such  could  in  reality  be  found;  and  it 
remains  in  this  chapter  to  ascertain  if  the  model  under  consideration 
combines  the  requisite  conditions  of  harmony  and  success  indicated. 
Governor  Sprague  in  his  front  leverage  has  a  front  cannon  11  inches, 
and  a  forearm  21  inches — the  same  precisely  as  the  stallion  Florida,  and 
very  nearly  the  same  as  the  Volunteers  of  the  same  height.     He  has 


410  GOVERNOR   SPRAGUE. 

for  a  rear  leverage  a  thigh  of  2Z^  inches,  and  is  39^  inches  from 
centre  of  hip  to  outer  edge  of  the  hock.  He  is  muscled  about  as  the 
aA^erage  sons  of  Hambletonian — not  so  heavy  in  the  quarter  and  on 
the  lower  thigh  as  those  of  the  Star  cross,  but  has  great  strength  of 
limb,  especially  at  the  hocks  and  other  joints. 

To  those  of  my  readers  who  have  carefully  read  my  description  of  the 
conformation  and  gait  of  other  horses,  the  gait  of  Governor  Sprague 
will  be  readily  understood.  At  a  slow  jog  he  paddles  slightly — that 
is,  he  throws  his  front  feet  outwardly  side  wise  as  he  starts  oiF — but  as 
soon  as  he  advances  beyond  the  rate  of  a  mere  jog,  his  front  feet  are 
thrown  forward  in  right  line,  and  with  perfect  precision  and  great  force. 
He  elevates  his  feet  fairly  (but  not  enough  to  make  his  knees  appear 
higher  than  his  elbows),  and  bends  his  knees  slightly.  After  a  careful 
study  of  his  gait  in  rapid  motion,  I  fixed  upon  the  exact  position  of 
his  front  feet,  legs  and  knees,  and  the  artist,  under  my  direction,  in  the 
picture  of  Governor  Sprague,  which  appears  in  and  was  executed  for 
this  work,  has  given  the  most  exact  and  perfect  expression  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  horse,  in  every  respect.  He  bends  his  knees  a  little 
more  than  the  average  Volunteers  and  Almonts,  but  not  nearly  sa 
much  as  the  Everetts  and  others  that  I  have  described  in  previous 
chapters.  He  throws  his  foot  forward  with  a  plunge  that  is  the  extreme 
of  vigor,  but  does  not  bring  it  down  with  the  sharj),  chopping  stroke 
that  tells  so  fearfully  upon  the  forelegs  and  feet  of  other  trotters.  His 
action  of  the  forelegs  is  out-reaching  to  a  fair  degree,  and  attended 
•with  extreme  muscular  force  and  energy. 

He  has  been  described  by  an  able  and  elegant  writer  as  "  a  foot  and 
leg  tfotter;"  but  I  suppose  this  writer  did  not  intend  to  overlook  the 
vigorous  and  powerful  action  of  his  shoulders  and  the  muscular  part 
of  his  forequarter.  His  motion  is  in  such  perfect  line,  so  true  and 
steady,  as  to  appear  to  call  into  requisition  but  little  besides  his  feet 
and  legs.  But  every  part  works  with  great  power  and  in  perfect  har- 
mony. To  describe  his  action  behind,  I  find  it  convenient  to  repeat 
and  refer  to  what  I  wrote  in  a  former  chapter: 

The  Abdallah  gait  is  like  that  of  the  Clay  in  this,  that  the  hind  leg  ap- 
pears to  extend  backward  much  in  the  same  line  or  manner  as  the  Clay,  but 
not  so  far,  and  is  brought  forward  also  much  in  the  same  line,  but  not  so  far, 
but  with  an  elastic,  springy  motion — the  very  opposite  of  the  violent  and 
demonstrative — that  gives  the  eye  the  impression  that,  in  reality,  no  power  at 
all  is  being  expended.  The  legs  appear  to  extend  moderately,  but  do  not  really 
appear  to  bend,  and  the  muscles  work  so  easily  that  they  do  not  seem  to  be 
working  at  all ;  the  body  appears  to  rock  gently  to  and  fro  on  four  straight 


THE   GAIT   OF   A   TEOTTEU.  411 

legs,  and  yet  glides,  or  dances  along,  with  an  ease  that  can  scarcely  be 
described  or  even  comprehended.  The  p  erfectiou  of  the  Abdallah  gait  is  seen  in 
Ooldsmith  Maid ;  and  the  ease  with  which  she  will  dance  and  glide  along,  her 
body  gently  swaying  to  and  fro,  and  pass  over  a  mile  in  3 :20  or  better  without 
making  half  the  display  of  great  trotting  action  that  many  make  in  going 
at  2:45,  is  marvellous  to  the  eyes.  The  action  of  the  pure  Abdallah  does  not 
seem  to  depend  on  great  mass  of  muscle.  He  is  the  lithe,  sinew}-  fellow,  and 
his  joints  have  a  spring  about  them  that  gives  him  a  light,  elastic  bound 
at  each  step ;  he  seems  to  roll,  or  rock,  gently  from  side  to  side  on  each  of 
his  four  feet,  as  if  his  legs  Avere  stiii"  and  springy;  but  does  it  with  such  ease 
as  to  remind  one  of  a  herd  of  deer  on  the  prairie  when  they  come  down 
from  their  long  leaps  to  their  lofty  rocking-trot,  in  which  they  seem  to  em- 
ploy no  muscle  at  all  and  scarcely  bend  their  limbs.  The  Abdallah  horse 
is  not  one  of  long  measure,  or  skeleton  (his  thigh  and  length  from  hip  to 
hock  would,  in  a  horse  of  15  hands  3  inches  in  height,  be  about  the  Hamble- 
tonian  average  of  23 — 39  inches),  but  his  agility  and  fleetness  are  due,  in 
great  measure,  to  the  perfection  of  the  materials  of  which  he  is  made. 

In  describing'  the  gait  of  Florida,  whom  this  horse  resembles  in 
conformation  and  gait  more  nearly  than  any  other  I  know  of,  I  wrote 
as  follows: 

To  describe  his  gait  is  a  task  of  some  difficulty.  It  is  a  rapid  gait — con- 
sisting of  rapid  motions — does  not  appear  to  be  far-reaching  or  dwelling,  but 
all  the  feet  are  picked  up  rapidly,  thrown  out  from  the  body  slightly  side- 
wise,  and  come  down  with  a  sharp,  chopping  stroke,  much  calling  to  mind 
the  motion  of  the  prairie  chicken,  or  otlier  short-winged  birds,  in  their  flight 
in  a  straight  line  from  the  beholder.  Standing  front  or  rear,  you  seem  to  see 
all  the  feet  in  the  air  at  once,  but  not  at  great  elevation ;  and  the  body  rocks, 
■or  sways,  gently  and  verj^  slightly,  and  goes  forward  like  an  arrow  from  a 
bow.  The  motion  is  sharp,  quick  and  vigorous,  but  not  violent  or  demonstra- 
tive. It  seems  to  involve  more  muscular  action  of  the  limbs  and  body  than 
the  Abdallah  gait,  but  not  so  great  an  expenditure  of  power  or  outlay  of 
strength  as  the  Clay  or  Patchen  gait.  To  the  eye  it  is  a  motion  that  is  full  of 
rapture  and  beauty.  The  horse  seems  to  go  on  short  wings,  but  with  a  won- 
derfully steady  motion,  in  a  straight  line,  and  with  perfect  poise  of  bodj-. 
The  Abdallah  gait  seems  to  be  one  that  you  can  best  see  as  it  passes  alongside 
the  beholder,  or  as  it  recedes  gently  in  the  distance  while  passing.  The  real 
poetry  of  the  Bellfounder  gait  must  be  seen  while  the  animal  is  approaching 
or  going  from  you.  It  is  then  you  can  best  see  his  stifles  and  elbows  in  true 
line,  and  all  four  of  his  feet  seemingly  in  the  air  at  the  same  time,  and  you 
can  see  the  lines  of  his  hocks  and  elbows,  and  those  of  his  fore  and  hind  feet, 
all  at  the  same  time  and  in  pei'fect  line.  When  thus  seen  the  trotter  is  a  piece 
of  machinery  rarely  excelled  in  any  department  of  mechanical  skill.  But  no 
pen  can  describe  such  motions,  they  must  be  seen  and  attended  to  with  a 
close  and  discriminating  eye  to  be  appreciated. 

The  gait  of  Governor  Sprague  is  not  exactly  like  either  of  the  above, 
but  occu23ies  a  place  between  the  two.     He   does  not  spread  his  feet 


413  GOVERNOR   SPRAGUE. 

or  hocks  wide  apart,  like  those  of  the  Duroc  cross — his  thigh  is  too 
short  for  that — but  he  opens  wide  enough  to  pass  smoothly  and  with 
perfect  ease.  He  extends  his  feet  behind  moderately,  and  sets  them 
forward  squarely  under  his  body — Messenger  style — but  not  as  far 
either  backward  or  forward  as  the  Cla3'S  and  Patchens.  He  has  not 
the  lithe,  springy  action  of  the  Abdallah,  but  one  of  about  the  same 
reach  and  of  great  power.  He  does  not  seem  to  lift  his  hind  feet  so 
high  nor  so  near  his  body,  and  spread  his  stifles  out  so  wide  as  Flor- 
ida; and  the  reason  is,  that  his  thigh  is  shorter;  while  his  length  of 
limb  being  almost  the  same  as  Florida,  he  approaches  him  far  nearer 
than  those  who  have  a  24^-inch  thigh,  and  only  39  inches  from  hip  to 
hock;  and  the  degree  of  this  difference  is  in  exact  pi-oportion  to  the 
difference  in  physical  proportions.  He  bends  his  legs,  and  shows  his 
muscle  and  well-proportioned  levers  in  a  propelling  power  that  is 
expressive  of  great  vigor,  yet  great  ease.  You  get  the  idea  of  his 
trotting  action  as  well  in  seeing  him  sidewise,  passing  near  or  distant, 
as  in  coming  toward  or  going  from  you.  His  motion  is  a  rapid  use  of 
his  feet  and  legs,  and  an  even  and  steady  glide  of  his  body.  He  is  a 
deceptive  trotter;  he  makes  so  little  apparent  motion,  and  every  move 
in  right  line,  that  he  really  goes  much  faster  than  appearances  indi- 
cate. He  has  abundant  motion  at  all  points,  but  no  excess  anywhere. 
I  notice  a  recent  remark  of  one  who  came  close  to  the  truth  in  say- 
ing, "  Excessive  knee-action  is  exhaustive,  and,  like  straddling  behind, 
is  positively  a  false  motion,  entirely  extraneous  to  anything  that  helps 
the  horse  forward."  An  observation  to  be  highly  commended,  as  con- 
taining: much  common  sense.  Excessive  motion  has  two  disadvan- 
tages;  it  produces  an  irregular  and  uneven  gait,  and  exhausts  the 
vital  forces  and  energies  of  the  horse.  These  irregular  gaited  horses 
are  not  the  stayers.  That  Governor  Sprague  can  trot  at  all  times,  and 
so  many  heats,  at  such  even  rate  of  speed — like  his  sire — is  owing  to  a 
conformation  that  affords  abundant  action,  with  no  excess  anywhere. 
He  holds  his  head  at  fair  elevation,  and  with  perfect  poise  of  body 
glides  along  in  the  smoothest  and  easiest  manner  possible. 
In  a  previous  chapter  I  said: 

The  question  has  been  asked,  Is  there  any  true  proportion  or  measure  for  a 
perfect  trotter?  I  answer,  There  is ;  and  there  are  some  stallions  that  come 
very  near  to  the  true  proportion.  The  Abdallah  and  Messenger  standard  of 
39—23  is  about  as  near  the  proportion  as  can  be  selected.  A  stallion  that  has 
a  thigh  24  inches  should  not  be  leas  than  40  inches  from  hip  to  hock.  This 
was  Hambletonian's  and  Volunteer's  proportion.  Smuggler  is  24: — 40,  and  no 
Huer  action  behind  was  ever  witnessed  than  he  displays. 


COT^I'ORMATlOTir.  413 

I  may  s^ay  that  the  average  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Hambleto- 
nian  run  about  23 — 39,  and  this  seems  also  something  near  the  collat- 
eral branches  of  the  Abdallah  and  Messenger  family,  when  the  horses 
are  about  15  hands  2  inches  in  height.  I  have  found  that  trotters 
which  carry  about  this  proportion  move  with  a  smooth,  easy  gait;  do 
not  straddle;  do  not  interfere  nor  strike;  go  wide  enough  to  jDass,  but 
with  no  excess,  and  set  their  feet  squarely  under  their  body,  and  move 
in  rig-ht  line.  I  have  also  found  that  those  that  have  a  front  cannon 
longer  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  the  forearm  than  11  to  21,  lift 
the  knees  higher,  and  bring  the  front  feet  down  with  a  shaqD,  chop- 
ping stroke,  reaching  out  less,  and  striking  the  feet  on  the  ground 
with  greater  force — all  in  direct  proportion  to  the  difference.  Those 
of  the  Henry  cross,  and  most  thoroughbreds,  are  defective  in  this 
respect;  and  it  is  the  great  and  serious  defect  with  Smuggler,  as 
already  pointed  out.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  front  cannon  is 
shorter  than  as  11  is  to  21  in  relation  to  the  forearm,  the  horse  will  be 
inclined  to  be  calf-kneed- — will  not  raise  his  feet  or  knees  high  enough, 
and  will  dig  or  point  with  his  front  feet — a  very  serious  defect.  The 
same  writer  1  have  quoted  says,  in  another  place:  "  I  believe  this 
excessive  knee-action  to  be  always  the  accompaniment  of  a  straight, 
upright  shoulder,  and,  as  such,  an  evidence  of  low  breeding."  This 
is  a  grave  error.  The  very  opposite  of  this  is  the  truth.  .The  Mes- 
senger horse,  and  particularly  the  Abdallahs,  are  noted  for  their  upright 
and  straight  shoulders,  and  for  their  lack  of  knee-action,  and  certainly 
not  for  low  breeding.  And  so  marked  is  this  the  fact,  that  it  presents 
the  query,  whether  the  straight  shoulder  is  not  for  the  trotter  and  the 
sloping  shoulder  for  the  galloper.  The  latter  is  certainly  true,  and  I 
suspect,  also,  the  former  is.  It  is  my  expectation  to  treat  this  ques- 
tion more  fully  elsewhere.  I  say,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  perfect 
proportion  for  a  trotter;  but,  in  saying  this,  I  do  not  utter  the  absur- 
dity to  declare  that  the  measure  itself  will  declare  the  trotter;  for 
the  perfect  trotter  must  have  some  other  qualities  besides  perfect  pro- 
portion. The  measure  will  decide  whether  he  has  the  right  propor- 
tion; and  if  he  has  not  that,  he  can  not  be  the  perfect  trotter. 

There  was  an  evenness  of  conformation  in  the  sire  and  dam  of  Gov- 
ernor Sprague  that  completely  harmonized  in  the  son.  The  most 
important  trotting  factor  in  his  sire  was  a  remote  Duroc-Messenger 
cross;  and  this  is  one  of  the  rare  instances  where  great  success  has 
been  achieved  by  the  union  of  the  sire  thus  bred  on  the  in-bred  Mes- 
senger dam.     The  reverse  order   of  breeding — that  is,  the  Hamble- 


414  GOVERXOK  SPRAGUE. 

tonian  or  in-bred  Messenger  sire  on  the  Dviroc- Messenger  mare,  as  in 
the  case   of  Thorndale,    Ahnont,    x\dministrator,    Volunteer,    Black- 
wood and  Swio-erl — is  a  line  of  breedinji;  that  has  Ijeen  attended  with  the 
most  distinguished  success;  but  the  other  has  been  so  signal  a  failure, 
that  I   hardly  think  at  this   day  the  chances  of  a  good  colt  from  a 
daughter  or  granddaughter  of  Hambletonian  and  a  son  of  Mambrino 
Chief  would  be  worth   the   service  of  either  sire  or  dam.     The  only 
chances  of  success  would  be  in  those   cases  where,  as  in   this,  the 
Duroc  cross  in  the  sire  was  remote,  and  not  positive.     In  the  case  of 
Rhode  Islaiid,  it  is  apparent  that,  whatever  may  Imve  been  the  relative 
preponderance    of  Duroc   or  Messenger  character    in  Cock    of    the 
Rock — a  fact  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  state — the  Messenger,  and  not 
the  Duroc,   was   upjiermost  in  Rhode   Island;  for,  be  it  understood, 
that  these  two  bloods  were  so  marked  and  positive,  and  so  different  in 
their  peculiarities,  that,  while  they  worked  so   well  in   many  respects? 
and  constitute  in  all  combinations  the  most  royal  trotting  blood  yet 
known  in  this  country,  the  relative  characteristics  of  each  are  clearly 
recognizable,  however  remote   from  the  parent   stock  or  first  union. 
Thus  the  Duroc  is  faintly  recognizable   in  the   Volunteers,  clearly  in 
the  Stars,  the  Almonts,  Blackwoods,  and  all  others  similarly  bred — not 
more    so  than  the   Messenger,   but  as   clear    and   distinct — while    in 
Rhode  Island  and  Sprague  the  Duroc  seems  to  have  disappeared;  the 
blood,  of  course,  is  there,  in  a  remote  and  feeble  current,  but  its  char- 
acteristics are  buried,  obscured,  if  not  obliterated,  by  the  outliving 
and  doubly-reinforced  strains  of  old  Messenger,  that  stamp  character 
on  every  lineament  of  this  horse  as  a  trotter.     Governor  Sprague  is  a 
Messenger  of  the  highest  type — in  conformation,  in  healthful  soiuid- 
ness  of  blood,  bone,  tissue,  muscle  and  fibre.     He  has  the  level  brain, 
and  the  quiet,  steady  nerve  of  the  best  of  the  Messengers.     His  cour- 
age and  eager  power  of  will  hold  him  ready  for  the  sharpest  and 
fiercest  contest;  and  yet  he  is  as  steady  in  the  midst  of  earnest  con- 
test as  when  jogging  along.     I  think  in  this  respect  he  is  a  marvelous 
horse.     He   cares   nothing  for  the  presence  of  one   or  many  horses. 
No  gelding  could  be  more  qviiet  or  unmoved  by  the  close   proximity 
or  even  contiguity  of  other  horses,  of  either  sex.     And  he  is  so  steady 
and  true  in  harness,  and  easy  to  manage,  that  it  almost  leaves  it 
uncertain,  as  between  him  and  his  driver,  which  was  the  teacher,  and 
which  the  pupil.     This  quietness  of  temper  is  shown  in  him  and  his 
sire  in  the  predisposition  to  take  on  flesh.     He  is  just  like  his  sire  in 
this  respect — requiring  constant  work,  or  he  will  take  on  too  much 


THE   FINAL   ESTIMATE.  415 

flesh.  This  trait  in  man  or  beast  indicates  a  nervous  temperament  of 
the  most  serene  and  quiet  order;  yet  some  of  these  same  kind  can  be 
roused  to  the  highest  point  of  determination  and  energy  when  the 
occasion  demands  its  exhibition  or  presence.  This  is  one  of  the  finest 
traits  in  this  horse,  and  he  possesses  it  in  a  degree  that  marks  him  as 
pre-eminent. 

Take  him  all  in  all,  he  is  a  horse  whose  physical  conformation,  ner- 
vous organism,  kindness  of  temper  and  gentle  demeanor,  in  stable  or 
harness,  go  hand-in-hand  with  his  remarkable  precocity  as  a  trotter; 
and  all  combine  to  teach  us  the  summing  up  of  the  many  important 
truths  so  imperfectly  sketched  and  faintly  foreshadowed  in  the  fore- 
going chapters.  And  as  I  have  been  just  and  faithful,  both  to  the 
animals,  their  owners,  and  my  readers,  I  can  not  more  fitly  close  this 
chapter  than  by  expressing  the  belief  that,  in  the  light  of  all  my 
experience  and  study,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  trotting  stallions  of 
this  country,  not  circvxmscribed  by  narrow  limits,  he  is  one  of  the  best 
trotters  and  most  valuable  trotting  stallions  this  country  has  yet  pro- 
duced. That  he  will  be  a  universal  success  can  not  be  assured  of 
any;  but  if  he  is  not  successful,  it  will  surely  be  from  the  lack  of 
proper  selection  of  the  mares  with  which  he  shall  be  mated. 


CHAPTER  XX[L 

MAMBRINO  CHIEF. 

This  was  a  stallion  whose  renown  was  second  only  to  that  of  Ham- 
bletonian,  and  whose  merits  were  undervalued  by  one  laro-e  portion 
of  the  horsemen  of  America,  over-estimated  by  a  class  ecjually  as 
numerous,  and  prop(M-ly  understood  by  neither  of  them.  To  this  day 
the  blood  constituents  which  founded  his  greatness  have  never  been 
establisluHl  by  any  pro])er  analysis,  and  those  who  held  to  his  stock 
with  admiring  t(Miacity,  had  no  mtelHgent  reason  for  the  faith  that 
was  within  them ;  and  those  who  rejected  his  blood,  had  no  real  ap})re- 
ciation  of  its  value,  and  no  comprehension  of  its  elements. 

He  was  bred  in  Duchess  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  foaled  about  1845, 
the  property  of  Richard  Eldridge,  of  Mabbettsville.  As  a  three-year- 
old  he  was  sold  to  Warren  Williams,  and  in  1851  he  was  again  sold 
to  George  T.  Williams,  all  in  the  same  county;  and  in  the  winter  of 
1854  he  was  purchasinl  by  Edwin  Thorne,  Esq.,  for  Mr.  James  B. 
Clay,  of  Ashland,  and  went  to  Kentucky. 

He  lived  only  until  July,  18G1,  altliough  coming  from  a  long-lived 
family.  He  made  but  seven  seasons  in  Kentucky,  and  it  may  be 
safely  said  now  that  he  died  long  before  he  was  sufficiently  under- 
stood to  select  mares  that  were  suitable  for  the  qualities  which  he 
possessed,  and  that  it  was  only  the  result  of  chance  that  he  achieved 
his  greatest  success.  It  is  now  quite  easy  to  determine  that  if  he  had 
lived  in  the  present  day,  or  until  his  ])lo(^d  qualities  had  been  uiuler- 
stood,  he  would  have  left  the  impress  of  a  remarkably  successful 
stallion. 

He  was  a  natural  trotter,  but  was  never  in  the  hands  of  a  trainer; 
Vet  he  could  trot  in  2:32,  and,  doubtless,  in  the  hands  of  a  proper 
trainer' could  have  shown  2:20  far  more  easily  that  ur.iny  of  the  great 
trotters  of  our  own  day.  Of  this  I  have  little  doubt,  if  any  whatever. 
The  sire  of  Mambrino  Chief  was  Mambrino  Paymaster,  bred  by 
Azariah  Arnold,  of  Duchess  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  foaled  about  1821 

(416) 


MAMBUINO   PAYMASTER.  417 

or  1832.  Mr.  Georp^o  Tabor,  who  had  char<re  of  Manil)rino  Pay- 
master the  year  he  produced  Maiiihriiio  (Jhief,  says  that  it  was  when 
the  former  was  twenty-two  years  ohl. 

Maml)riii()  Paymaster  was  by  Mambrino,  son  of  imported  Messen- 
ger, and  Mambrino  died  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Arnohl.  The  reports  do 
not  ag;ree  as  to  tlie  dates  of  foalin<i,-  o[  either  Mambrino  Payiiiast(M-  or 
Mambrino  Chief.  The  dam  of  the  former  has  been  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  a  mare  by  import(ul  Paymaster,  but  this  is 
controverted  and  may  l)e  regarded  as  entin^ly  unautlumtic.  Mam- 
brino Paymaster  was  a  large;  horse,  lO.j  hands  high,  and  produced 
good  and  large  stock  of  much  style  and  substatuie,  but  non<^  of  th(Mn 
noted  for  trotting  action  or  speed,  except  the  produce  of  tin;  one 
mare  that  gave  us  Mambrino  Chief. 

It  can  not  ]u\  (hsfinitely  assumed  that  Maml)rino  Paymaster  liad  not 
some  qualihcations  for  a  trotting  sire,  because  lie  was  not  a  trotter 
himself,  and  produced  none  from  any  other  mare  than  the  dam  of 
Maml)rino  Chief.  He  was  a  son  of  Mambrino,  a  thoroughbred,  and  a 
son  of  Messtmger.  H(i  had  great  trotting  quality,  but  it  was  luild  in 
union  with  other  qualities  that  were  perhaps  ])aramount.  j^'roin  a 
real  trotting  mare  Mambrino  would  produce  a  trotter  or  a  trotting 
sin;;  but  from  a  racing  or  thoroughbred  mare,  or  one  that  had  no 
trotting  (juality,  he.  would  produce  a  horse  that,  Wkc.  himself,  would 
not  show  out  his  trotting  quality,  although  he  might  possess  it  in  a 
latent  or  inideinonstrative  way.  Such,  perhaps,  was  Mambrino  Pay- 
master, and  wluMi  he  was  mated  with  a  mare  or  roadst(^r — of  royal 
trotting  blood — then  cann;  a  gr(!at  trotter  and  a  powerfully  impressive 
trotting  stalli(jn. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  breeding  of  the  dam  of 
Mambrino  Chief,  and  some  efforts  were  made  to  learn  her  breeding,  but 
all  in  vain.  The  nsason  of  tlu;  failure  is  ol)vious  to  my  mind — the  inqui- 
ries were  made  of  those  who  possessed  no  knowledge;  and  with  the  fail- 
ure the  effort  ended.  The  princij)al  and  only  trustworthy  information 
that  was  made  public  concerning  her,  prcivious  to  my  own  investiga- 
tions, was  secured  through  the  endeavf)rs  of  Edwin  Thorne,  Esq.,  the 
well-known  gentleman  above  referred  to,  and  I  can  but  express  the 
opinion  that,  if  he  had  followed  up  the  trail,  tin;  problem  would  much 
sooner  have  been  solved.  I  extract  the  following  from  the  statements 
made  by  that  gentleman: 

There  has  l)een  so  much  written  in  relation  to  the  clam  of  Mani1)rino  Chief, 
tending  to  bewilder  rather  than  enlighten  the  practical  breeder,  that  I  have, 


418  MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

at  the  solicitation  of  a  friend,  devoted  several  days  to  irifervicwing  parties 
Tvith  a  view  of  srcttino;  all  the  facts  that  are  known  in  relation  to  her  for  pub- 
lication, to  set  at  rest  forever  all  theorieH  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Dan'l  B.  Haight,  of  Dover  Plains,  was  the  first  party  I  called  upon. 
He  informed  me  that  the  first  he  knew  of  the  mare  she  was  owned  by  Elder 
Smith,  a  minister,  who  resided  in  the  village  of  Dover  Plains.  He  had  her 
only  a  short  time,  and  sold  her  to  Mr.  John  Taber,  a  neighbor,  from  whom  he, 
Mr.  H.,  purchased  her  for  |75.  Notliing  was  knoicn  of  her  pedigree;  Mr. 
Taber  said  that  she  came  from  the  West.  Mr.  Haight  describes  her  as  being 
a  large  brown  mare,  with  a  coarse  head,  and  large  heavy  ears,  low  on  the 
shoulders,  deep  and  broad  in  the  cliest,  a  very  long  back,  badly  coupled,  g(wd 
limbs,  large  feet  that  looked  as  if  she  had  been  fed  on  corn,  which  strengthened 
his  belief  that  she  came  from  the  West.  In  disposition,  speed  and  action  she 
was  nothing  more  than  an  ordinary  work  horse.  She  was  six  or  seven  years 
old  when  he  bought  her;  he  worked  her  seven  or  eight  years  on  his  farm,  and 
having  her  when  he  purchased  Mambrino  Paymaster,  he  bred  her  to  him. 
The  produce  was  the  horse  Goliah.  He  did  not  breed  her  again,  but  soon 
after  traded  her  with  Richard  Eldridge,  now  of  Mabbettsville,  for  another 
horse. 

I  called  upon  Mr.  Eldridge,  and  found  he  had  a  much  higher  opinion  of 
the  mare  than  Mr.  Haight.  He  said  she  had  a  good-sized  head  and  rather  a 
large  but  not  a  heavy  ear ;  her  back,  if  anything,  was  a  little  long,  but  not 
much  out  of  the  way  in  the  coupling.  She  was  broad  in  the  breast  and  deep 
in  the  girth.  Her  feet  were  not  over-large  for  her  size ;  her  legs  were  good — 
the  hind  ones  so  good  that  they  were  often  the  subject  of  remark.  She  had 
good  carriage  and  was  an  uncommon  smart  traveler.  He  bred  her  twice  to 
Mambrino  Paymaster  and  once  to  Dr.  Camfield's  horse  Sir  Andrew.  The 
produce  by  Mambrino  Paymaster  was  the  brown  horse  Mambrino  Chief  and 
a  bay  colt ;  from  Sir  Andrew  it  was  a  bay  colt. 

After  breeding  the  three  colts,  Mr.  Eldridge  sold  her  to  a  neighbor,  Mr. 
Lewis  Wilber.  I  called  on  him.  He  said  the  mare  had  a  great  reputation 
for  speed  when  he  bought  her.  She  must  then  have  been  close  on  to  twenty 
years  old.  He  represents  her  as  being  a  good  big  mare,  without  anything  in 
particular  to  remark  in  her  appearance.  She  did  not  have  a  bad  back ;  she 
was  strong  and  willing.  While  running  at  pasture,  without  any  grain,  she 
•would  take  him,  a  man  weighing  over  200  pounds,  in  an  ordinary  one-horse, 
square  box  farm  wagon,  with  a  pretty  good  load  in  it,  to  Poughkeepsie,  17 
miles  distant,  over  a  hilly  road,  in  three  hours.  In  returning  home  she  would 
come  the  last  half  of  the  distance  with  as  m.uch  spirit  as  she  did  the  first. 
During  the  season  of  grass,  when  not  at  work,  she  was  in  the  pasture  field. 
Winters  she  was  stabled,  and  occasionally  fed  some  grain.  At  no  time  while 
he  owned  her  was  she  fed  more  than  two  or  three  cjuarts  of  grain  (oats)  per 
day.  In  1855,  the  year  after  Mambrino  Chief  went  to  Kentucky,  Mr.  Clay 
farmed  her  from  Mr.  Wilber  and  had  her  stinted  to" Washington,  a  son  of 
Mambrino  Paymaster,  but  nothing  resulted  from  it.  She  died,  as  near  as  Mr. 
Wilber  can  recollect,  about  the  year  1857,  sound  in  limb  and  body.  Her 
death  was  the  result  of  an  accident— she  fell  and  broke  her  neck. 


DAM   OF   MAMBRINO   CHIEF.  419 

Being  desirous  to  get  otlier  evidence  than  that  furnished  by  the  direct 
owners  of  the  mare,  I  called  on  their  neighbors  whom  I  thought  most  likely 
to  remember  her,  to  wit :  Mr.  Nelson  Haight,  a  brother  of  Daniel  B. ;  Mr. 
Stephen  Haight,  and  his  son-in-law  Mr.  Merritt,  whose  farm  adjoins  Mr. 
Wilber's;  Mr.  William  Mahurd,  who  had  the  mare  the  season  she  had  her 
third  colt,  and  Mr.  David  S.  Tallman,  who  formerly  owned  the  Dunkin  ]Mam- 
brino,  and  is  now  the  owner  of  the  Hambletonian  stallion  Manhattan.  Mr. 
Nelson  Haight  spoke  in  the  most  unqualitied  terms  of  the  mare.  He  said 
nothing  was  known  of  her  pedigree ;  she  was  about  15^^  hands  high,  dark  brown 
in  color,  heavy  moulded,  long,  deep  body  on  short  legs.  She  had  as  good  a 
head,  ear,  neck  and  shoulder  as  he  ever  saw  on  a  horse,  and  as  good  a  set 
of  limbs.  If  there  could  have  been  any  fault  found  with  her,  she  was  a  little 
narrow  over  the  loin,  though  her  hips  were  good  width,  and  her  quarters 
heavy.  He  had  worked  her  on  the  fsirm,  and  plowed  with  her  many  a  day. 
She  was  an  uncommonly  good  worker,  a  fast  walker  and  a  great  roadster. 
After  his  brother  parted  with  her,  he  saw  her  on  one  occasion  being  driven 
down  the  road  with  three  persons  in  a  common  square  box  wagon,  at  a  three- 
minute  gait.  Mr.  Stephen  Haight,  Mr.  Merritt  and  Mr.  Mahurd  corroborated 
what  Mr.  Eldridge  and  Mr.  Wilber  said.  Mr.  Tallman  recollected  the  mare 
perfectly,  as  his  attention  was  repeatedlycalledtoherby  anolduncleof  his,Mr. 
Moses  Husted,  who  was  high  authority  on  the  horse  in  his  day.  He  says  she 
was  an  extra-good  mare,  a  very  fast  walker.  He  had  often  seen  her  taking  Mr. 
Wilber  with  a  load  of  apples  or  potatoes  to  market,  at  a  good  gait,  without 
any  apparent  eftbrt. 

If  she  was  six  years  old  when  Mr.  Haight  bought  her,  and  he  owned  her  seven 
years,  parting  with  her  after  she  bred  Goliah,  who  was  foaled,  as  Mr.  H. 
informed  me,  in  1841,  and  not  1843,  as  Wallace  has  it,  she  must  have  been 
bordering  on  thirty  years  of  age  when  she  died  in  1857. 

Her  colts  by  Mambrino  Paymaster  were  all  trotters.  Wallace  has  Goliah 
by  Mambrino  Paymaster,  in  his  Register,  as  a  brown  horse,  and  in  his  Calen- 
dar as  a  black.  As  there  was  but  one  trotter  so  bred,  by  that  name,  I  take  it 
for  granted  that  he  is  the  one  referred  to,  although  he  was  in  color  bay.  He 
is  credited  with  having  trotted  in  Philadelphia,  .July  1,  1851,  beating  Zachary 
Taylor  in  2 :33  and  2 :33i>2.  Mr.  Eldridge  sold  Mambrino  Chief  to  Mr.  Warren 
Williams,  when  three  years  old.  When  six  years  old,  he  became  the  property 
of  Mr.  G.  Titus  Williams,  who  sold  a  half-interest  in  him  to  Mr.  James  M. 
Cockcroft,  of  New  York  City.  He  never  was  regularly  trained.  Mr.  Cock- 
croft  was  a  good  horseman,  and  at  that  time  passed  several  months  each  year 
at  Washington  Hollow,  and  drove  the  horse  parts  of  two  seasons.  He  never 
was  trotted  in  a  public  race.  Mr.  G.  T.  Williams  is  my  authority  for  saying 
lie  trotted  a  full  mile  on  the  Washington  Hollow  track,  driven  by  Mr.  Cock- 
croft, in  3:32,  and  he  timed  him  on  several  occasions,  his  quarters,  in  37 
seconds. 

The  third  colt  by  Mambrino  Paymaster  was  a  bay,  with  considerable  white 
on  both  hind  legs.  I  do  not  know  that  he  was  ever  in  a  public  race.  He  was 
owned  and  driven  on  the  roads  about  New  York  by  Mr.  Anson  Livingston. 
He  waa  fine  gaited,  and  could  trot  in  2:40.    I  knew  all  three  of  these  horses. 


420  MAMRKINO   CHIEF. 

and  looked  at  the  latter  after  Mr.  Liviugston  parted  with  him,  with  a  view  of 
purchasing  him.  The  colt  by  Sir  Andrew  was  a  fine-looking  fellow.  Mr, 
David  S.  Tallman  bought  him  when  four  years  old,  because  he  had  so  high  an 
opinion  of  his  dam.  Pie  broke  him,  and  sold  him  after  breaking  him  for  abou* 
double  what  he  gave  for  him.  He  was  taken  to  White  Plains,  Westchester  Co., 
in  this  State,  where  he  died  in  the  course  of  a  month,  before  he  was  sufficiently 
broken  to  develop  any  speed,  if  he  had  any  in  him.  He  was,  however,  not 
promising  ;  neither  was  Goliah  at  his  age — Mr.  Haight  sold  him  for  a  cart- 
horse. 

All  the  foregoing,  relating  to  the  mare,  has  been  obtained  from  my  neighbors 
residing  within  a  radius  of  five  miles,  and  can  be  relied  upon  as  being  all  that 
is  known  of  the  pedigree  and  general  characteristics  of  the  old  brown  mare, 
immortalized  by  her  son  Mambrino  Chief. 

Let  her  breeding  be  what  it  may,  the  fact  that  she  produced  Goliah,  Mam- 
brino Chief,  and  the  Livingston  horse,  all  fast  trotters,  coupled  with  the  fact 
that  the  only  one  of  the  trio  kept  entire  was  able  to  transmit,  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  his  wonderful  qualities,  is  evidence  to  my  mind  that  she  was  much 

more  than  an  ordinary  mare. 

Edwin  Thorne. 
Thorndale,  Duchess  Co.,  N.  Y. 

P.  S. — As  it  has  been  suggested  that  some  of  the  good  qualities  of  Mambrino 
Chief  may  have  come  from  the  Paymaster  mare,  the  dam  of  Mambrino 
Paymaster,  I  may,  in  this  connection,  state,  that  if  she  had  any  Paymaster 
blood  in  her  it  was  not  known.  Mambrino  Paymaster  was  bred  by  my  neighbor, 
the  late  Azariah  Arnold.  In  the  summer  of  1870  I  called  upon  him  with  a 
friend,  to  learn  what  we  could  about  Mambrino  and  Mambrino  Paymaster. 
Mambrino  died  and  was  buried  on  his  farm.  In  relation  to  Mambrino  Pay- 
master, he  said  he  was  sired  by  Mambrino.  His  dam  was  a  good-looking, 
three-year-old  bay  mare  he  bought  of  a  man  at  Hyde  Park,  who  said  she  was 
sired  by  a  horse  that  stood  at  Fishkill.  He  did  not  know  an.ything  about  her 
breeding.  She  looked  so  much  like  the  Paymaster  stock  that  he  (Mr.  A.)  called 
her  a  Paymaster  mare,  and  named  her  colt  Mambrino  Paymaster. 

And  to  which  the  following  was  added  by  the  same  gentleman: 

Mr.  Eldridge  informs  me  that  I  reported  my  interview  witii  him  correctly, 
but  there  was  one  thing  that  did  not  occur  to  him  at  the  time,  but  that  has 
come  to  him  since,  and  that  was  that  Daniel  B.  told  him  when  he  bought  the 
mare  that  she  could  trot  a  mile  with  two  men  in  a  wagon  in  four  minutes. 

Mr.  Tlieodore  Weeks  tells  me  that  he  once  rode  behind  the  mare  with  Mr. 
Eldridge's  son,  in  a  square  box  lumber  wagon,  faster  than  he  ever  rode  before 
or  since.     He  thought  she  was  a  trotter. 

Through  the  aid  of  Col.  George  F.  Stevens,  of  Poughkeepsie,  I 
received  the  following  letter,  bearing  on  the  subject: 

At  the  request  of  Col.  Stevens,  I  write  this,  giving  you  all  I  know  of  Mam- 
brino Paymaster  and  his  descendants.  I  knew  Mambrino  Chief  from  the  day 
Jie  was  foaled  until  he  left  the  State,  also  his  dam.    The  tendency  to  grey  legs 


HER   OTHER   SONS.  421 

came,  beyond  a  doubt,  tlirougli  his  dam,  as  I  am  certain  there  was  no  such 
tendency  in  the  family  of  Mambrino  Paymaster;  his  get  were  most  uniformly 
a  rich,  dark  bay,  with  blacli  points;  the  color  of  the  produce  of  Mambrino 
Chief's  dain  was  variable,  Goliah  being  a  dark  bay,  the  Chief  a  dark  brown, 
while  the  next  (known  as  the  Cox  Horse)  was  a  light  bay  with  three  white 
legs,  high  up,  and  a  white  face,  the  only  one  I  ever  saw  so  conspicuously 
marked.  The  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief  was  brought  to  our  town  by  Mr. 
Nicholson.  I  saw  her  the  day  she  arrived  with  many  others.  She  was  bought 
some  fifty  or  sixty  miles  west  of  Kingston.  She  was  a  large,  coarse,  brown 
or  black  mare,  I  think,  without  white  marks,  at  least  not  conspicuous.  I  saw 
her  almost  every  week  for  ten  years.  G.  G.  Shakpstein. 

I  also  insert  a  letter  from  Col.  Stevens,  well   known   also  in  every 

part  of  the  country: 

PouGHKERPSiE,  .July  84th,  1876. 
Inclosed  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  G.  G.  Sharpstein,  an  old  resident  of  Washing- 
ton Hollow  (about  15  miles  east  of  here  in  this  county.)  He  is  well  informed 
in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  stock  horses  of  this  section,  and  I  will  give 
you  some  of  the  points  drawn  from  him  in  course  of  conversation.  He  knew 
the  man  Nicholson,  who  brought  the  drove  of  horses  in  which  Mambrino 
Chief's  dam  came  to  "Washington  Hollow.  He  says  that  Nicholson  was 
absent  but  little  time  after  the  drove.  He  went  on  horseback,  and  could  not 
have  gone  far.  Nicholson  undoubtedly  came  through  the  Wallkill  Valley, 
from  off  toward  the  Pennsylvania  line,  which  was  "  out  West "  in  those  days. 
Wallkill  Valley  terminates  about  Kingston,  where  Nicholson  crossed  the 
Hudson  to  Rhinebeck,  and  went  with  his  drove,  via  Pine  Plains,  to  Washing- 
ton Hollow.  From  the  time  Nicholson  was  absent,  his  traveling  on  horse- 
back, and  the  route  he  must  have  come  to  Kingston  (as  he  could  not  have 
crossed  the  mountains  west  of  Kingston),  all  seem  to  indicate  that  he  bought 
his  drove  somewhere  along  or  near  the  line  now  traversed  by  the  Erie  Rail- 
road. The  Wallkill  Valley  runs  southwest  from  Kingston  (16  miles  above 
here),  and  passes  through  Ulster  and  Orange  counties,  and  this  would  be  the 
natural  route  in  leading  stock  from  that  section,  or  even  further  west,  to  get 
to  Washington  Hollow.  The  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief  must  have  been  a  well 
bred  mare  to  have  produced  three  such  horses  as  Ooliah,  Mdmbrino  Chief  and 
the  Cox  Horse.  This  Cox  Horse  was  as  fast  as  either  of  the  others.  He  was 
sold  from  here  to  Geo.  Johnson,  of  New  York,  passed  through  the  hands  of 
Jas.  Irving,  and  was  owned  for  some  time  by  A.  Varian.  He  was  a  "  whirl- 
wind" to  a  sleigh,  and  on  the  roads  out  of  New  York  he  was  the  recognized 

"boss  of  the  road,"  hitched  in  that  way. 

Geo.  F.  Stevens. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  Kingston  is  in  Ulster  county,  the  next 
county  west  of  Duchess,  and  that  the  mare  came  from  the  west  of 
Kingston,  and  perhaps  not  over  sixty  miles  from  that  point.  But 
even  granting  that  she  came  twice  or  three  times  that  distance,  there 
is  nothing  in  all  the  facts  we  have  to  show,  or  even  suggest,  that   she 


422  MAM  BRING    CHIEF. 

came  from  any  other  rog-ioii   than  the  interior  of  the  State  of  Now 
York. 

Before  going-  into  other  evidences  which  to  my  mind  have  an  im- 
portant bearing  on  the  subject,  I  will  present  a  statement  of  Mr.  Am- 
brose Stevens,  of  Batavia,  New  York,  a  gentleman  whom  I  had  never 
met  and  did  not  know  at  the  time  I  received  the  statement,  except 
as  he  was  known  to  the  public.  This  statement  is  the  substance  of  two 
letters  by  him,  sent  me  after  seeing  the  suggestion  I  made  in  regard 
to  this  subject,  in  the  National  Live-Stock  Journal,  to  the  effect 
that  this  mare  was  a  Messenger  Duroc.  I  have  put  the  two  letters 
together,  and  give  them  substantially  as  I  received  them,  the  italics 
being  my  own: 

I  notice  your  remark  in  regard  to  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Cliief  being  a 
daughter  of  Messenger  Duroc,  he  by  Duroc,  dam  Vincenta  by  imp.  Messen- 
ger. Allow  me  to  tell  you  what  I  know  of  Messenger  Duroc.  In  1822  I  saw 
him  run  at  Oaks,  in  the  town  of  Phelps,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  three  miles, 
and  win.  He  was  owned  by  Samuel  Hayt  (pronounced  Ho}'!).  I  was  a  visitor 
at  Major  Whitemore's,  near  Oaks,  and  the  horse  was  there  and  remained  till 
September,  and  was  again  brought  back  there  in  October,  1822.  He  was 
wintered  at  Maj.  Whitemore's  in  1822 — 23.  I  knew  the  horse  perfectly  well 
then.  It  is  stated  in  the  printed  account  of  him,  that  he  was  foaled  in  1820, 
but  he  was  foaled  in  1818,  and  was  four  years  old  in  1822.  I  know  the  fact 
that  Vincent's  certificate  was  changed  as  to  date  after  I  parted  with  the  horse. 
In  1829,  Mr.  Ulysses  Stage,  of  the  town  of  Stafibrd,  Genesee  county,  N.  Y., 
hought  the  horse  of  Hayt,  and  brought  him  to  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  and 
stood  him  in  that 'year  in  Statford.  In  the  spring  of  1880,  mj' brother  and 
myself  bought  him  of  Robt.  F.  Stage,  the  brother  and  administrator  of 
TJlysses  Stage,  who  was  badly  bitten  by  Messenger  Duroc  in  the  autumn  of 
1829,  and  died  in  consequence  of  it- 
After  the  purchase  by  me  and  mj^  brother,  I  made  inquiry  of  Hayt  and 
"Whitemore  about  the  history  of  the  horse  from  1822  to  1829.  I  knew  the 
horse  instantly  in  1829,  when  I  saw  him  at  Stage's  tavern,  where  he  stood  in 
1829.  I  sought  out  Hayt,  whom  I  knew  in  1822,  and  in  1881  obtained  his 
certificate  as  to  the  horse  and  his  history  (this  latter  a  verbal  statement,  but 
which  I  reduced  to  writing  at  the  time).  He  informed  me  that  in  1824  he 
took  the  horse  to  Duchess  county,  and  made  a  season  there.  He  made  four 
seasons  in  Duchess  and  Ulster  counties.  In  three  of  those  years,  in  the 
autumn,  he  brought  him  to  Oneida  and  Seneca  counties,  N.  Y.  (in  the  last  of 
which  Hayt  lived),  and  made  fall  seasons  with  him,  and  returned  him  to  the 
East  in  the  following  spring.  In  1828  he  brought  him  home  in  the  fall,  and 
in  the  winter  of  1828—29,  sold  \\\m  to  U.  Stage.  In  1829  Stage  stood  him  in 
Statlord.    In  1880  my  brother  and  I  stood  him  at  Batavia,  Genesee  county. 

In  the  spring  of  1881  I  bought  my  brother's  interest  and  stood  him  at  Bata- 
via;- in  1832  at  McFarland's,  in  Niagara,  Canada,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niag- 
ara river ;  in  1833,  1834  and  1835  at  East   Hamburg,   Erie  county,   N.    Y., 


MESSENGER   DUKOC.  423 

and  in  July,  1835,  he  went  to  Kentucky,  where  he  died,  but  at  what  date  I  do 
not  know. 

He  was  a  very  dark  chestnut,  legs,  mane  and  tail  the  exact  color  of  his  body, 
— looked  almost  brown.  He  was  large  and  powerful,  a  wonderful  trotter 
untrained.  I  have  driven  him  in  a  cutter  5l£  miles  in  23  minutes,  with  two 
in  the  cutter.  His  get  also  trotted.  He  had  been  foundered,  and  his  feet  were 
badly  contracted  and  needed  great  nursing,  but  if  nursed  he  was  all  right. 
He  was  the  best  saddle-horse  I  ever  backed — and  in  1830  and  in  1831,  I  often 
Tode  him  in  a  gallop  20  to  40  miles  a  day,  and  have  driven  him  in  a  cutter 
from  Batavia  to  Buffalo,  39 1^  miles,  in  three  hours  and  twelve  minutes.  His 
get  were  apt  to  have  bad  feet,  if  they  took  his  or  a  brown  color — bays  and 
•other  colors  would  escape.  The  bad  feet  in  the  get  would  come  on  at  four  or 
five  years  old  if  it  took  the  form  of  contraction — but  if  they  were  born  with 
it,  the  feet  were  rather  large  and  soft  shelled  and  flat,  and  they  were  always  ten- 
der in  feet  from  foals. 

Messenger-Duroc  was  a  very  large,  commanding  horse,  straight  in  his  neck, 
not  carried  high,  very  characteristic,  had  a  square  head,  and  full  of  will  and 
courage.  He  was  very  level  in  his  body  and  full  muscled,  his  trotting  action 
very  fine,  no  knee  action  (like  Lady  Thorn  in  that  regard),  had  a  most  wonder- 
ful constitution.  Could  always  eat  a  bushel  of  oats  (32  lbs.)  per  day.  Could 
work  all  the  time  and  never  show  fatigue.  He  wanted  beauty  and  airiness 
■und  style,  but  lacked  nothing  in  real  excellencs. 

In  all  his  get  of  a  chestnut  color — he  was  very  dark  chestnut — no  white 
"hairs  ever  showed.  I  never  knew  any  of  them  but  dark  chestnuts,  bays, 
^reys  and  browns.  In  all  the  bays  the  white  hairs  showed,  and  a  grey  toned 
leg  in  the  bays  and  the  browns  was  occasional;  have  seen  it  on  all  four  legs. 
The  horse's  dam  was  a  grey  without  white  (I  never  saw  her.)  His  colts 
matured  very  early,  and  were  natural  trotters  as  he  was.  While  he  had  a  Duroc 
look,  he  had  no  Duroc  action,  nor  temper.  He  was  a  Messenger  in  temper, 
"will  and  courage.  He  was  as  steady  in  temper  as  a  machine,  and  would  go 
to  his  death.  He  was  game  to  the  last,  and  would,  on  call  and  forever,  give 
you  all  there  was  in  him,  and  there  was  in  him  all  the  material  of  a  great 
horse.  His  get  were  like  him,  and  were  all  fit  to  loork  at  three  years  of  age. 
He  was  plain  in  his  head,  which  was  square,  angular,  clean  and  courageous, 
not  big  nor  vulgar,  and  set  well  on  his  straight  neck.  On  coarse,  big-headed 
mares,  his  colts  were  apt  to  get  the  dam's  coarseness,  and  his  plainness,  and 
■often  from  low-bred  dams  they  showed  general  plainness,  but  always  great 
substance,  and  fine  size,  even  out  of  small  mares.  They  often  wanted  style.  I 
knew  Mambrino  Chief,  both  here  (in  Kentucky)  and  in  New  York.  If  I  had 
been  told  that  Mambrino  Chief  was  a  son  of  my  Iwrse,  and  time  had  consorted, 
I  would  not  have  dpubted  the  assertion.  My  horse's  colts,  like  himself,  had  all 
great  levelness  of  trot,  but  no  knee  action.  There  was  no  difli"erence  in  the  get 
of  my  horse  arising  from  color  as  to  merit,  but  the  chestnuts  were  very  apt 
to  have  bad  feet,  contracted,  while  the  bays  and  browns  tcere  apt  to  go  large  in, 
the  feet.  The  greys  always  came  right  in  the  foot — and  he  often  got  greys 
(nearly  always)  out  of  grey  mares,  and  his  bays  were  often  roaned  somewhat, 
and  now  and  then  a  full  bay  roan.     This  was  a  marked  feature  of  the  get  of 


424  MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

old  imported  Messenger ;  I  knew  three  of  his  get  tliat  were  full  bay  roans.  I 
have  known,  altogether,  full  twenty  horses  and  mares,  the  get  of  imported 
Messenger.     I  knew  well  Mambrino  and  Ilambletonian. 

Now,  while  my  hand  is  in,  I  will  tell  you  something  about  Stockholm's 
American  Star.  I  saw  him  run  and  win  his  two-mile  race  at  Poughkeepsie, 
in  October,  1830.  I  was  so  struck  with  the  horse  that  I  tried  to  buy  him  for 
a  stallion  to  get  road  horses.  He  was  one  of  the  grandest  horses  I  ever  smc, 
fiiw  size,  splendid  dappled  chestnut,  quite  dark,  and  dappled  beautifullj^  had 
a  white  foot  behind,  a  star  and  snip,  arched  neck,  high  withers  (not  like  old 
Duroc  there,  and  most  of  his  get),  had  a  neat  head,  level  rump,  and  was 
altogether  one  of  the  grandest  horses  I  ever  saw.  His  trotting  action  was 
splendid,  and  he  had  to  he  whipped  to  force  him-  to  a  gallop. 

Mr.  Stockliolm  told  me  that  his  dam  was  by  Mambrino,  son  of  Messenger, 
grandam  by  imp.  Messenger,  and  I  made  a  memorandum  of  it ;  and  he  agreed 
to  consider  my  proposition  to  sell  me  the  horse,  but  the  treaty  came  to  nothing- 
Stockholm  represented  the  horse  thoroughbred,  and  the  horse  showed  it.  He 
was  very  large.  He  ran  a  game  race  and  would  in  this  day  he  a  trotter  of  the 
first  class. 

I  knew  old  Duroc,  he  had  no  more  trotting  action  than  a  cow ;  paddled 
with  his  forefeet,  and  could  not  have  trotted  in  less  than  six  minutes.  As  a 
roadster  he  was  a  brute,  and  all  his  get  that  took  after  him  were  no  roadsters, 
and  I  knew  many  of  them.  Henry  was  the  same  as  old  Duroc.  Of  the 
hundred  Diomeds  and  Archies  I  have  known,  I  never  saw  one  with  trotting 
action. 

I  knew  Mambrino  Chief  both  in  the  East  and  here  in  Kentucky,  and  can 

say  to  you  that  he  was  not  unlike   Messenger  Duroc  in  appearance  and 

action,  but  not  so  neat  and  blood-like  by  far,  nor  so  level  or  quiet  in  trotting 

action. 

Your  obedient  servant,  Ambrose  Stevens. 

Soon  after  the  appearance  of  my  original  chapter  on  Mambrino 
Chief,  in  the  Live-Stock  Journal^  1  received  the  following-  letter  from 
Mr.  Hayt,  now  a  resident  of  the  city  of  Milwaukee : 

Milwaukee,  Jan.  31,  1877. 

H.  T.  Helm  :  Your  postal  card  and  Live-Stock  Journal  is  received.  I  have 
given  the  subject  an  examination.  I  find  Mr.  Stevens  in  error  in  some  of 
the  history  he  gives  of  Duroc ;  the  writer  bought  the  colt  of  Reuben  Vincent, 
town  of  Freedom,  Duchess  county.  New  York,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  winter 
of  1821 ;  he  was  then  coming  three  years  old.  The  dam  was  brown  instead  of 
grey ;  the  family  from  which  she  came  I  am  not  able  to  give.  Mr.  Vincent  was 
a  neiglibor  of  mine,  and  I  had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  dam  as  I  had  of  the 
colt;  she  was  153^  hands,  compactly  made,  deep  chest,  strong  and  well  coupled 
at  loin,  heavy  and  muscular  quarters,  with  limbs  and  hoofs  almost  unexcep- 
tionable, head  rather  large  but  clean,  fine  ear,  neck  rather  long  and  straight. 
The  Vincent  family,  in  all  that  I  knew,  which  Avas  numerous,  were  all  horsemen 
and -were  noted  for  the  many  fine  horses  they  raised. 

The  dam  of  Duroc  was  valued  by  Mr.  Vincent  for  her  purity  of  descent. 


MESSENGER  DUROC.  425 

I  resided  at  "Washinsjton  Hollow — old  Duroc  and  Hambletonian  both  stood 
tliere  for  several  years,  and  of  both  of  their  stock  I  have  owned.  This  horse 
of  the  present  subject  of  writina:,  favored  his  sire  more  than  any  of  his  get 
that  I  have  ever  seen,  both  in  color,  form  and  disposition — better  limbs  and 
feet  I  have  yet  to  see  than  he  had ;  a  faster  walker  or  surer  footed  I  never 
rode.  As  to  his  trotting  I  know  nothing,  as  he  was  never  in  harness  while  I 
owned  him;  and  as  to  his  having  been  foundered,  it  M'^as  done  after  I  parted 
with  him;  nor  have  I  ever  heard  or  known  of  his  get  to  be  afflicted  with 
defective  feet.  In  the  winter  of  '22  and  '23  I  sent  him  to  my  brother  in  Seneca 
Co.,  N.  Y. ;  he  had  him  trained  by  Whitemore,  of  Phelps,  and  run  at  Oaks 
Corners,  from  which  time  until  I  sold  him  to  Stage  in  the  spring  of  1828,  he 
stood  for  mares  in  Seneca  and  Tompkins  counties  and  nowhere  else.  He  never 
made  a  season  in  Duchess  or  Oneida,  as  reported  by  Mr.  Stevens;  he  was 
trained  and  run  on  several  occasions  after  the  close  of  the  season,  and  was 
successful.  There  are  those  who  knew  him,  the  writer  included,  who  believe 
he  would  have  been  Eclipse's  superior  had  he  the  same  advantages. 

Mr.  Kelsey,  of  Poughkeepsie,  the  then  owner  of  old  Duroc,  tried  to  purchase 
the  colt  of  Mr.  Vincent;  there  was  quite  a  contest  between  us  to  get  him;  the 
horse  was  owned  by  me  until  I  sold  him  to  Stage. 

I  have  written  a  disjointed  history  hurriedly;  if  it  clears  up  any  doubts, 
I  shall  have  answered  your  inquiry,  but  if  I  have  not  answered  all  your 
inquiries,  I  will  most  cheerfully  do  so  on  being  informed. 

Very  truly  yours,  S.  Hayt. 

P.  S.  It  occurs  to  me  since  closing  my  letter,  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief 
may  have  come  from  Messenger  Duroc ;  he  made  two  seasons,  '25  and  '26,  at 
Ithaca  and  vicinity.  His  stock  was  highly  prized  and  fine,  and  had  mares  from 
Delaware  and  perhaps  from  further  east  tlian  there.  Mr.  Stevens  has  well  de- 
scribed the  horse  as  to  his  general  make-up,  but  I  difter  widely  from  his  opinion 
in  regard  to  limbs  and  feet.  I  have  never  known  one  of  his  produce  to  be 
either  spavined  or  curbed;  I  have  owned  a  number  of  them,  and  known  large 
numbers.  It  has  always  been  regarded  by  myself  and  others,  that  the  Durocs 
did  not  mature  early.  Most  of  the  persons  named  at  Washington  Hollow  in 
those  inquiries  are  known  to  me,  and  there  must  be  those  who  remember  my 
horse,  as  I  kept  him  there  a  year.  The  horse  partook  largely  of  his  sire, 
disposed  to  bite ;  but  Mr.  Stevens  is  in  error  when  he  says  he  bit  Stage  and 
caused  his  death.  I  was  with  Stage  and  know  his  death  was  from  another 
cause.  S.  H. 

In  response  to  my  inquiries,  Mr.  Geo.  T.  Williams  has  given  me 
the  following  letter  : 

I  was  the  owner  of  Mambrino  Chief  from  the  time  he  was  between  three 
and  four  years  old,  and  in  part  until  lie  went  to  Kentucky.  I  knew  his  dam 
and  her  other  sons  by  Mambrino  Paymaster,  Goliah  and  the  Cox  Horse. 
They  were  all  gaited  substantially  alike— big,  open  gaited ;  Goliah  was  the 
biggest  gaited  of  the  three — more  noted  in  this  respect  than  any  other  Mam- 
brino Paymaster  stock  I  ever  knew.  I  knew  the  stock  very  well,  and  never 
knew  any  such  mark  as  a  grey  leg  in  the  family.     The  mare  that  produced  the 


426  MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

Chief,  was  a  square,  open  or  big-gaited  animal,  and  a  free  and  loose  goer;  a 
mare  of  great  power,  and  for  one  used  as  she  was,  a  strong  goer — could  prob- 
ably trot  in  four  minutes  or  better.  She  was  a  mare  that  possessed  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  horse  Messenger  Duroc,  as  described  by  Mr.  Stevens,  in  a  veiy 
strong  degree,  and  she  transmitted  them  to  her  colts.  The  feet  of  Mambrino 
Chief  were  just  such  as  Mr.  Stevens  describes.  His  foot  was  a  fine-looking 
foot,  but  it  could  not  stand  work,  he  threw  out  quarter  cracks.     I  had  one  colt 

by  him  that  did  the  same  thing. 

Geo.  T.  Williams. 

That  the  qualities  of  Mambrino  Chief  were  due  in  larg'e  part,  if 
not  mainly,  to  his  dam,  has  been  regarded,  by  those  in  any  degree 
familiar  with  the  subject,  as  almost  certain.  Mambrino  Paymaster 
produced  no  such  stock  as  the  three  sons  of  this  mare  from  any  other, 
and  the  fact  that  she  did  not  succeed  with  any  other,  estalilishes  the 
fact  that  their  greatness  was  owing  to  the  reunion  of  separate  lines  of 
the  trotting  blood  of  old  Messenger,  We  are  familiar  with  the  various 
trotting  elements  that  have  come  to  the  surface  in  this  country,  and 
we  do  know,  as  an  established  fact,  that  the  blood  characteristics  of 
Mambrino  Chief  were  none  other  than  those  manifested  by  the  blood 
of  Messenger,  modified  by  one  other  element,  which  in  this  case  we 
are  clearly  able  to  identify,  and  which  also  aids  us  in  establishing  the 
breeding  of  this  mare. 

This  mare  was  probably  foaled  about  the  year  1828  to  1830,  perhaps 
one  or  two  years  before  that  date.  The  characteristics  of  Mambrino 
Chief  and  his  stock,  down  to  the  second  and  third  generations,  point 
with  unerring  certainty  to  Messenger  Duroc  as  the  sire  of  his  dam. 
She  was  probably  fifteen  years  old  when  she  produced  the  Chief. 
Her  large  feet,  and  those  of  the  family  since,  with  their  flat  bottoms, 
found  their  prototype,  not  in  Ohio  corn,  but  in  the  blood  of  old  Duroc. 
The  family  are  yet  noted  for  a  broad,  flat  foot  that  frazzles  and  breaks 
readily  about  the  edges. 

The  dam  of  Messenger  Duroc  was  a  brown  mare,  by  Messenger, 
and  the  infirmity  of  feet  in  his  stock  was  greater  in  those  of  the  bay 
or  brown  color  than  when  their  color  showed  that  the  stock  leaned 
toward  the  Messenger  tyjjc.  He  often  produced  greys,  and  especially 
if  that  color  was  reinforced  in  the  dam  ;  and  in  his  other  produce, 
the  bays  and  browns,  a  grey  leg  would  now  and  then  appear.  Such 
would  be  most  likely  the  case  if  in  these  the  blood  of  the  grey  Mes- 
senger was  also  reinforced — and  right  here  we  find  a  witness  that  still 
testifies  of  the  blood  of  that  mare.  Mambrino  Chief  had  a  family 
badge,  in  the  shape  of  a  grey  right  hind  leg — from  the  hock  to  the  foot. 


FAMILY   BADGES.  427 

It  was  not  distinct  in  colthood  and  early  life,  but  all  his  Kentucky 
^.cquaintances  have  this  grey  leg  in  clear  remembrance.  He  put  that 
grey  leg  on  about  one-fourth  to  one-third  of  all  his  produce.  Mam- 
brino  Patchen  wears  it,  and  in  turn  transmits  it  to  many  of  his  produce. 
I  have  one  of  them.  Joe  Hooker,  that  one  of  all  of  his  sons  which 
was  said  to  resemble  him  most,  wore  the  badge  in  full.  Almont,  his 
grandson,  has  it  now  plainly  and  increasing.  Ristori,  by  Volunteer, 
dam  by  iNIambrino  Chief,  thus  acknowledges  her  family  lineage. 
Messrs.  Haight,  Taber,  Williams  and  Shaq^stein,  all  agree  in  the 
statement  to  me  that  this  trait  never  belonged  to  the  family  of 
Mambrino  Paymaster.     It  points  to  Messenger  Duroc  unmistakably. 

I  here  repeat  in  verbis  a  part  of  my  argument  in  the  chapter  relating 
to  Duroc,  wherein  I  called  attention  to  the  matter  of  anatomy — the 
long  thigh  of  the  Duroc  family.  This  matter  of  measurement,  about 
which  some  people  have  much  to  say,  yet  know -as  little  as  they  do 
about  horses,  never  having  studied  or  learned  anything  about  either, 
has  its  value  here.  By  the  anatomy  of  the  Duroc  family  are  they  dis- 
tinguished, even  to  remote  generations,  as  I  know  of  no  other  family 
on  this  continent.  Duroc  had  a  long  thigh,  and  this  thigh  he  trans- 
mitted and  yet  transmits,  even  to  his  remote  descendants,  unless 
counteracted  by  other  bloods  alike  strong  and  positive  in  their 
character.  It  was  not  a  Diomed  characteristic,  but  it  belonged  to 
Duroc.  The  Diomed  and  Sir  Archy  families  have  not  generally  a 
thigh  over  23  inches  in  length,  but  the  Duroc  family  in  all  its  remote 
branches,  displays  one  of  24  inches  and  upwards. 

The  American  Star  family,  with  their  single  cross  of  Duroc,  and 
only  15  hands  2  inches  in  height,  have  a  thigh  24  inches  in  length — 
the  larger  ones,  Bolton  and  Socrates,  have  each  one  24^  inches;  while 
Smuggler,  a  remote  descendant  of  Duroc,  can  show  as  fine  hind- 
quarter  action  as  any  horse  in  the  world,  and  trot  very  fast  on  a  24- 
inch  thigh.  It  is  also  seen  that  the  length  of  the  thigh  bears  some 
reference  to  the  number  of  Duroc  crosses  the  animal  carries.  Thus 
Brownwood  by  Blackwood,  dam  by  McDonald's  Mambrino,  having 
two  Duroc  crosses,  has  a  thigh  24-2-  inches;  the  present  Messenger 
Duroc,  of  Chapter  X,  with  his  five  crosses  of  Duroc,  has  one  25  inches, 
and  his  son  Ellwood,  with  his  ten  direct  crosses,  and  not  so  tall  on  the 
rump  by  two  inches,  has  one  also  25  inches;  Prospero  is  also  25 
inches. 

This  feature  of  the  Duroc  cross  is  one  that  is  found  with  more 
certainty  than  any  other  anatomical  characteristic  that  I  know  of  any- 


428  MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

where.  In  the  Mambrino  Chief  family  the  loiiff  thi^h  is  universal, 
unless  controlled  by  an  overpowering  concentration  of  Sir  Archy  or 
other  racing  blood,  as  in  a  few  instances.  Administrator  has  a  thigh 
24^  inches;  Mambrino  Patchen,  24^;  Idol,  24;  Mambrino  Eclipse, 
24;  Mambrino  Star,  24;  North  Star  Mambrino,  24;  Woodford  Mam- 
brino, 24;  Mambrino  Gift,  24;  Mambrino  Kate,  24:^;  Mambrino  Ex- 
celsior, 24^:;  Proctor,  24f ;  Blackwood  and  Swigert,  each  24^.  These 
two  latter  were  from  daughters  of  Mambrino  Chief;  their  sire  Norman, 
descended  from  Messenger  stock,  was  not  so  long;  he  produced  l^ula 
and  May  Queen,  mares  15  hands  1  inch,  and  each  had  a  thigh  22^ 
inches;  also  Sue  Letcher,  the  dam  of  Neely's  Henry  Clay,  and  she  a 
large  mare,  has  a  thigh  23  inches,  and  all  these  show  that  the  long 
thigh  came  from  the  Mambrino  Chief  family.  Again,  Almont,  a  horse 
15  hands  2  inches,  has  a  thigh  24^,  and  Thorndale,  15  hands  2  inches, 
has  one  24,  both  from  Mambrino  Chief  dams;  and  their  sire  also  pro- 
duced Pacing  Al)dallah,  a  horse  15  hands  3^  inches,  Avith  a  thigh  22^, 
and  Goldsmith  Maid,  15  hands  1  inch,  and  22f — which  also  proves  the 
same  point. 

We  often  see  the  statement  that  the  early  Messenger  trotters  did 
not  trot  so  wide  apart  behind  as  we  now  frequently  observe.  The 
Messenger  horse  w^as  a  horse  with  a  short  thigh,  and  the  short-thigh 
trotters  all  trot  close:  Happy  Medium,  22^;  Hambletonian  Prince, 
22;  Cuyler,  15  hands  3  inches,  23^;  Lakeland  Abdallah,  15  hands  2 
inches,  22-2-;  Edward  Everett,  15  hands  1^  inches,  22^;  Geo.  Wilkes, 
15  hands,  22;  Lucy,  15  hands  2  inches,  20;  Gen.  Knox,  15  hands  2 
inches,  20^;  Tattler,  15  hands  2  inches,  22^;  Orient,  15  hands  2^ 
inches,  23;  Hopeful,  15  hands  1  inch,  21^;  Gov.  Sprague,  15  hands  2 
in  -hes,  23^.  The  above  list  indicates  the  length  of  thigh  in  trotters 
that  have  no  near  IDuroc  blood. 

When  the  Duroc  blood  came  in,  the  long  thigh  widened  out  the 
position  of  the  hind  legs,  and  this  wide  open  gait  is  so  attractive  to 
some  that  it  is  early  seized  upon  as  a  sure  indication  of  coming  great- 
ness in  the  trotter.  The  Star  family  all  show  the  wide  gait,  although 
they  possess  only  one  cross  of  Duroc  blood,  sandwiched  between  two 
and  perhaps  three  crosses  of  Messenger,  and  one  of  Henry,  another 
short-measure  horse.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  while 
the  form  and  peculiarities  which  give  type  to  the  Star  gait  came  from 
the  Duroc  cross  mainly,  that  gait  is  not  the  Messenger  Duroc  gait. 
The  Henry  cross  exerted  a  controlling  influence  over  the  conforma- 
tion of  the  American  Star  family,  and  greatly  modified  the   Duroc 


DUROC-MESSENGER   GAIT.  429 

gait.  But  the  gait  of  Mambrino  Chief  and  all  his  family,  including 
the  Almonts,  is  essentially  Messenger  Duroc,  and  is  one  that  is  recog- 
nizable anywhere.  It  is  not  the  gait  of  the  Mambrino  or  the  Mam- 
brino Paymaster  family.  Mambrino  produced  Almack,  and  he,  in 
turn,  the  Champion  family;  and  the  gaits  of  all  these  bear  a  close 
resemblance  to  the  elastic,  propelling,  rear-reachiiig  gait  of  the  Ab- 
dallahs,  but  totally  unlike  the  Messenger  Duroc  element.  This  cross 
had  such  long  thigh,  and  such  long  bone  from  stifle  to  the  whirlbone 
joint,  and  at  the  same  time  lacked  in  the  flank  room  or  distance  from 
the  stifle  to  the  hip,  that  the  motion  of  the  hind  limbs  involved  such 
a  folding  up  of  these  members,  with  so  little  room  for  it,  that  it  gave 
the  horse  a  sprawling  motion — spreading  out  at  the  stifle — and  a  wab- 
bling style  about  the  hindquarters  wholly  unlike  the  even,  elastic 
tread  of  the  Abdallah  and  Champion  families.  Any  one  who  has  seen 
a  three-year-old  Almont  and  one  of  the  same  age  by  the  present 
Messenger  Duroc  turned  loose  in  a  lot,  can  not  have  failed  to  recog- 
nize the  great  similarity,  I  may  say  identity,  of  their  gaits;  they  lift 
the  hocks  hip-h  and  are  showv  fellows.  The  Blackwoods  train  in  the 
same  school;  and  this  gait  prevails  in  all  the  Mambrino  Chief  family, 
but  is  greatly  modified  in  the  Ericsson  branch,  by  the  long  measure 
from  hip  to  hock  of  Mrs.  Caudle,  the  New  York  bred  mare  that  pro- 
duced Ericsson,  a  branch  of  the  family  which  I  have  shown  had,  in 
addition  to  the  long  thigh,  a  long  reach  from  hip  to  hock,  and  a  gait 
very  similar  to  the  Royal  Georges. 

It  is  important  that  it  be  kept  in  mind  that  all  these  peculiarities  of 
gait  in  the  dift'erent  families  of  trotters  come  from  peculiarities  in  the 
physical  conformation  and  nervous  organism  of  those  various  families, 
and  are  alike  inheritable  and  at  the  same  time  unmistakable  evidences 
of  family  lineage.  No  blood  traits  are  more  certainly  transmissible, 
or  more  clearly  recognizable. 

Again,  the  Messenger  family  and  their  descendants,  the  Hamble- 
tonians,  have  not  been  known  as  early  trotters  or  in  any  respect  early 
maturers,  but  the  stock  of  Messenger  Duroc,  we  are  told,  were  grown 
at  three  years  and  ready  for  work.  It  was  one  of  the  characteristics 
of  his  produce,  and  has  been  transmitted,  beyond  all  doubt,  to  the 
descendants  of  Mambrino  Chief.  It  is  in  this  family  that  we  have 
heard  so  much  of  baby  trotters  in  recent  years. 

Another  testimony  of  an  unquestionable  nature  is  found  in  this, 
that  the  blood  of  old  Duroc  was  known  and  recognized  in  his  lifetime 
AS  tainted,  and  infected  with  a  tendency  to  spavins,  curbs,  and  ring- 


430  MAMBRINO   CIIIKF. 

bones,  and  this  taint  he  has  transmitted  with  fatal  certainty,  wherever 
strong  and  positive  currents  of  his  blood  prevail.  In  Chajiter  V,  I 
called  attention  to  the  statement  of  one  who  knew  the  horse  well 
while  living,  and  who  asserted  that  the  horse  was  himself  spavined,, 
and  that  such  was  the  tendency  of  his  blood  in  his  descendants.  Tho 
long  thigh  and  the  sickle  hocks  and  curbs  of  the  American  Eclipse 
family,  were  among  their  most  noted  characteristics.  The  happy 
adaptation  of  the  blood  of  Eclipse  to  the  production  of  trotters,  led 
to  the  breeding  of  Mambrino  Chief  to  many  Eclipse  mares.  Thus 
the  Duroe  blood  was  doubled,  and  with  it  the  tendency  to  curbs  and 
spavins  was  greatly  intensified.  My  attention  has  been  called  to  the 
fact  that  the  very  excellent  stallion  Idol,  by  Mambrino  Chief,  whose 
dam  was  an  Eclipse  mare,  has  produced  several  that  were  curbed  and 
otherwise  defective,  and  the  case  of  Giraffe  by  Alhambra,  similarly 
bred  dam  by  Idol,  and  several  others,  are  now  before  me  bearing 
testimony  to  the  baneful  effects  of  in-breeding  the  Duroc  blood,  and 
thus  intensifying  its  pernicious  tendencies.  Bear  it  in  mind  that 
Alhambra  and  Idol  are  both  highly  bred  and  very  valuable  horses,  as 
I  have  shown  in  Chapter  X  and  shall  further  show  in  Chapter  XXIII, 
in  the  further  progress  of  this  subject;  and,  while  I  would  do  them 
no  injustice,  the  truth  must  be  told.  I  have  no  unfriendliness  for  any 
of  these  stallions,  on  the  contrary,  admire  the  good  qualities  of  each 
of  them  very  much,  and  have  been  a  patron  of  many  of  them;  but  I 
am  not  friendly  to  unsoundness  in  any  form,  and  regard  my  duty  to 
the  reading  public  more  than  I  do  the  sensitiveness  of  any  parties 
interested  in  such  animals. 

In  Chapter  V,  I  have  fully  treated  of  this  subject  relating  to  the 
blood  traits  of  Duroc,  and  the  tendency  toward  infirmity.  While 
such  was  the  inherited  taint  that  has  been  transmitted,  in  greater  or 
less  degree,  to  all  of  his  descendants,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  it 
is  only  to  the  repeated  crosses  and  intensified  currents  of  that  blood 
that  I  object. 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  to  exercise  the  most  extreme  care  in 
regard  to  reuniting  separate  channels  of  an  infected  blood,  such  as  that 
of  Duroc  and  Henry,  as  it  often  happens  that  while  two  parents  in 
themselves  are  sound  and  free  from  blemish,  the  concentration  of  the 
blood  in  the  produce  renders  them  unsound  and  worthless.  Two 
illustrations  of  this  have  occurred  in  my  own  experience  as  a  breeder. 
A  mare  by  Searcher,  he  by  Barney  Henry,  by  Signal,  a  descendant 
of  Henry,  was  an  animal  of  fine  form,  and  could  trot  in  2:42,  perfectly 


DUROC   BLOOD   TRAITS.  431 

sound.  She  produced  a  filly  by  a  grandson  of  Roe's  Abdallah  Chief, 
a  horse  that  was  himself  a  marvel  of  health  and  soundness,  and  never 
produced  an  unsound  foal  to  my  knowledge  except  in  this  instance. 
This  filly,  at  three  years  old,  gradually,  and  without  any  apparent 
strain  or  injury,  developed  lame  and  unsound  hocks,  and  eventually 
curbs.  Roe's  Abdallah  Chief  had  two  Duroc  and  one  Henry  cross, 
and  the  slio-ht  reinforcement  found  in  the  Searcher  mare  brouo-ht  out 
the  latent  current  of  unsound  blood.  Another:  a  mare  by  Post  Boy, 
son  of  Henry,  was  bred  to  Blackbird,  whose  dam  was  by  the  same 
Post  Boy.  A  spavined  hock  came  out  of  the  union,  and  in  turn  she 
transmitted  this  to  her  produce.  Breeders  of  great  intelligence,  and 
having  high  appreciation  of  the  blood  of  Eclijise,  found  by  disastrous 
experience  that  this  blood  could  not  safely  be  vmited  with  that  of 
Mambrino  Chief,  or  his  sons  Idol  and  Alhambra,  whose  dams  were 
by  Eclipse,  and  that  the  produce  of  these  two  stallions  could  not 
safely  be  in-bred  together.  It  was  often  tried,  but  almost  uniformly 
with  evil  results.  The  union  of  remote  strains  was  often  effected 
with  success,  as  in  the  case  of  Mambrino  Eclipse,  whose  dam  was 
by  Zenith,  a  son  of  Eclipse,  and  Mambrino  Patchen,  dam  by 
Gano,  son  of  Eclipse.  These  last  two  stallions  bred  very  sound 
stock,  not  in  any  respect  noted  for  the  defects  above  referred 
to.  And  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  produce  of  Mambrino 
Chief  and  an  Eclipse  mare  would  be  vinsound,  or  that  such  a  stallion 
would  necessarily  breed  unsound  stock.  Such  would,  beyond  doubt, 
be  the  tendency,  and  it  would  certainly  manifest  itself  if  such  a  stal- 
lion was  again  crossed  upon  mares  having  similar  elements  of 
unsoundness.  Idol  is  a  very  sound,  and  a  very  valuable  stallion,  and 
Lis  produce  are,  in  the  main,  quite  sound  and  strong,  and  Alhambra 
has  produced  some  animals  that  are  very  sviperior,  and  entirely  free 
from  defect.  Many  instances  have  occurred  within  my  own  observa- 
tion, showing  the  utter  worthlessness  of  the  produce  of  two  animals 
of  this  blood,  each  in  themselves  apparently  quite  sound,  and  noted 
as  superior  breeders. 

Such  was  Duroc  blood,  and  such  are  the  blood  characteristics,  in 
less  degree  but  in  unmistakable  form,  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  family. 
These  blood  traits  did  not  come  from  Mambrino  or  any  other  son  or 
daughter  of  Messenger.  Such  ti-aits,  running  through  a  family  with 
such  all-prevailing  genei'ality,  constitute  one  of  the  most  reliable  evi- 
dences of  consanguinity,  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  proofs 
already  exhibited,  render  the  case  perfectly  convincing  that  the  dam 

of  Mambrino  Chief  was  a  mare  of  Duroc  and  Messenger  blood. 

38 


432  MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

But  there  is  one  more  evidence  equally  convincing  and  far  more 
agreeable  to  present,  and  of  far  greater  value  and  more  attractive 
when  presented. 

The  blood  of  Duroc,  while  it  was  tainted  and  was  infectious  in  its 
tendency,  and  was  certainly  injurious  if  intensified  by  close  and  con- 
tinued in-breeding,  was  in  other  respects  one  of  great  value.  .When  it 
was  properly  supported  and  renovated  by  judicious  outcrosses,  it  was 
not  necessarily  an  unsound  or  contaminating  agency,  and,  as  allied  with 
the  blood  of  Messenger,  it  was  an  important  trotting  element.  The 
blood  of  imported  Messenger  was  crossed  with  that  of  several  other 
thoroughbreds  and  part-bred  animals,  notably  with  that  of  Trustee 
and  Expedition,  both  imported  horses,  and  with  other  sons  of  Diomed.^ 
That  of  Duroc  was  also  crossed  with  the  blood  of  other  thoroughbred 
and  trotting  strains;  but  nowhere  was  there  a  union  of  any  of  these 
elements  that  produced  a  trotting  type  so  marked  and  lasting  in  its 
peculiarities  as  that  of  Duroc  and  Messenger.  I  have  before  stated 
clearly  that  I  do  not  believe  there  was  one  particle  of  trotting  ten- 
dency in  the  blood  of  any  of  the  Diomed  family;  and  I  am  confirmed 
in  this  opinion  by  the  observation  of  those  who  lived  in  the  day  of 
his  sons  and  early  descendants.  Certainly  I  can  not  credit  Duroc 
with  any  such  tendency,  or  with  any  other  element  of  a  trotter  than 
a  conformation  of  thigh  and  hindquarter  peculiar  to  himself,  and 
which  had  a  tendency  to  develop  and  increase  in  his  descendants,, 
especially  when  in-bred,  that  greatly  adapted  them  to  the  trotting 
gait;  but  I  call  the  attention  of  those  who  deny  the  magical  trotting 
qualities  of  the  Messenger  blood  to  the  fact,  that  while  Duroc  was 
thus  lacking  in  trotting  tendencies  in  himself,  his  blood,  in  union  with 
that  of  imported  Messenger,  constituted  royal  trotting  blood  of  the 
highest  quality  we  have  ever  seen  on  this  continent.  And  it  was  so 
marked  and  noted  in  its  own  type  and  character  as  to  stand  by  itself 
and  give  form  and  character  to  all  the  subsequent  elements  into  which 
it  has  entered. 

I  have  shown  in  Chapter  V,  that  the  dam  of  Duroc  was  by  Grey 
Diomed,  a  son  of  imported  Medley,  and  that  he  was  a  son  of  Gim- 
crack,  a  horse  foaled  in  England  in  17G0;  like  Duroc,  a  horse  de- 
scribed as  having  a  long  and  iwweiful  thigh^  with  hocks  loell  let 
down.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  Medley  cross  has  always 
ranked  as  a  good  one  in  our  trotting  families.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
in  "greater  or  less  degree  the  Medley  family  showed  this  marked 
peculiarity  of  Gimcrack  and  Diomed,  although  they  have  possessed 


GIMCRACK.  433 

it  in  small  degree,  while  his  granddaughter,  Amanda,  transmitted 
it  to  Duroc  in  greater  degree  than  was  ever  seen  in  any  other 
member  of  the  family.     That  would  be  no  anomaly. 

I  have  shown  that  in  the  case  of  Tippoo,  the  supposed  son  of 
Ogden's  Messenger,  there  was  a  gait  and  a  conformation,  not  entirely 
identical,  but  quite  analogous  to  this,  and  that  it  was  traceable  to 
Gimcrack  in  about  the  same  degree  as  the  peculiar  conformation  of 
Duroc.  To  any  one  who  has  studied  the  matter  closely,  nothing  is 
inore  clear  or  unmistakable.  The  manner,  gait  and  character  of  the 
horse  all  declare  it. 

Every  descendant  of  Seely's  American  Star,  of  Mambrino  Chief, 
and  Alraont  or  Thorndale,  attests,  in  his  way  of  going,  his  wide  open 
gait,  and  the  peculiar  action  of  the  thigh  and  quarters,  the  presence 
of  the  Duroc-Messenger  union.  Messenger  Duroc  was  by  Duroc, 
from  a  daughter  of  Messenger,  and  was  a  thoroughbred.  The  first 
American  Star  was  similarly  bred,  according  to  all  traces  that  have 
come  down  to  us.  And  let  me  ask,  where  have  such  trotting  elements 
been  found  in  or  exhibited  by  any  other  two  thoroughbred  horses  this 
country  has  ever  produced?  Both  of  these  were  trotters,  and  from 
the  last  one  and  a  mare  by  Henry,  the  little  grandson  of  Diomed  and 
out  of  another  daughter  of  Messenger,  came  the  American  Star, 
whose  fame  as  a  trotter  and  the  sire  of  trotters  and  the  dams  of  trot- 
ters, forms  one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  our  trotting  history.  It  is  clear 
this  last  horse  received  nothing  but  his  defects  and  imperfections 
from  Henry;  his  greatness  as  a  trotter,  and  the  richness  of  the  trot- 
ting elements  he  carried,  came  from  the  Duroc-Messenger  blood  of 
which  he  was  composed. 

The  pure  and  rich  qualities  of  this  blood  are  seen  in  Volunteer  and 
in  all  his  descendants.  Its  intensified  trotting  quality  is  seen  in  the 
American  Star  family,  but  tainted  and  greatly  corrupted  by  the 
infirmities  incident  to  in-breeding  the  Duroc  and  Henry  blood,  and  in 
the  Mambrino  Chief  family  its  royal  trotting  quality,  greatly  rein- 
forced by  the  union  of  the  Messenger  strains  coming  through  Mam- 
brino Paymaster,  found  their  richest  field  of  development  and  display, 
marred,  however,  by  the  fact  that  the  low-bred  ancestry  of  the  dam 
of  Mambrino  Chief  also  furnished  a  suitable  field  in  which  to  mani- 
fest and  develop  the  innate  and  deep-seated  taint  of  the  Duroc  blood. 
It  is  thus  that  the  high  and  the  low  are  compelled  to  run  in  the  same 
channels,  but  the  wise  breeder  will  be  careful  which  element  he  will 
reinforce. 


434  MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

It  may  be  well  to  recur  to  the  ascertained  history  of  the  dam  of 
Mambriiio  Chief.  She  died  in  1857,  and  was  supposed  to  be  near 
thirty  years  of  age.  Twenty-seven  to  twenty-eight  years  seems  to  be 
the  age  generally  attained  by  members  of  the  Messenger  and  the 
Duroc  families  when  properly  used.  She  was  probably  foaled  about 
the  year  1828  to  1830,  and  she  came  either  from. the  county  of  Ulster 
or  some  county  west,  southwest  or  northwest  of  that  county,  and  not 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
at  this  period  Messenger  Duroc  made  his  spring  seasons  in  Ulster  and 
Duchess  counties,  and  was  taken  in  the  fall  of  these  j'-ears  to  Oneida 
and  Genesee  counties,  over  the  precise  path,  probably,  traveled  by 
the  man  Nicholson,  when  he  brought  the  brown  mare  to  Duchess 
county.  It  will  also  be  seen  that  this  mare  possessed,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  the  qualities  of  a  daughter  of  Messenger  Duroc  from  the 
common-bred  stock  of  the  coiintry.  More  than  that,  such  a  daughter 
would,  of  all  others,  possess  the  exact  qualities  requisite  to  produce 
such  a  horse  as  Mambrino  Chief,  from  such  a  sire  as  the  son  of  Mam- 
brino,  a  grandson  of  imported  Messenger.  Moreover,  the  dam  of 
Mambrino  Chief  must  of  necessity  have  possessed  the  exact  qualities 
we  have  seen  should  properly  have  been  found  in  a  daughter  of  Mes- 
senger Duroc,  or  she  could  not  have  given  such  qualities  to  Mambi'ino 
Chief,  and  he  possessed  thern  in  a  very  striking  degree. 

More  than  all  this,  we  are  so  far  acquainted  with  the  blood  traits 
and  characteristics  of  all  our  American-bred  horses  as  to  be  able  to 
declare,  with  absolute  certainty,  that  such  qualities  as  she  possessed 
were  at  that  period  nowhere  found  on  this  continent  save  in  a  com- 
mon descendant  of  the  two  horses  Messenger  and  Duroc.  This  we 
know  absolutely,  for  such  qualities  have  not  been  exhibited  by  any 
other  families,  and  they  were  exhibited  in  the  produce  of  this  horse 
Messenger  Duroc.  Hence,  a  full  survey  of  the  field,  and  all  the  evi- 
dence, leaves  upon  my  mind  the  conviction,  as  an  absolute  and  moral 
certainty,  that  a  daughter  of  Messenger  Duroc  was  the  dam  of  Mam- 
brino Chief.  The  trotting  gait  of  Messenger  Duroc,  as  described  bv 
Mr.  Stevens,  will  be  recognized  by  every  one  familiar  with  any  part 
of  the  Mambrino  Chief  family.  They  are  free  and  ready  travelers, 
and  go  with  level  heads,  steady  and  true.  There  is  no  quit  about 
them,  but  they  will  go  for  all  there  is  in  them — full  of  courage  and 
good  temper.  They  are  not  up  to  the  highest  standard  in  point  of 
quality,  but  an  exceedingly  pliant  and  fertile  field  on  which  to  engraft 
the  fixed  and  rich  strains  of  the  Abdallah  and  Hambletonian  families. 


THE  WHOLE  TESTIMONY.  435 

In  matters  relating  to  the  descent  of  horses  we  are  compelled  very 
often  to  receive  evidences  of  this  character,  and  they  have  great 
weight  in  the  absence  of  certain  and  positive  facts  of  paternity  and 
maternity  clearly  shown. 

The  coincidence  of  time  and  locality,  the  precise  period  when  this 
mare  should  have  been  produced,  and  the  precise  region  where  and 
when  this  horse  was  located;  the  possession  by  her  of  his  precise 
qualities,  and  the  transmission  of  those  qualities,  together  with  cer- 
tain personal  peculiarities;  together  with  the  clearly  known  and 
well-recognized  fact  that  the  traits  and  characteristics  of  the  Mam- 
brino  Chief  family  are  now  and  continue  with  great  force  and  clear- 
ness those  of  the  Duroc-Messenger  blood;  and  further,  that  no 
other  stallion  of  that  union  is  shown  to  possess  the  same  coincidence 
of  time  and  locality, — these  facts  and  evidences  must  be  accepted  as 
establishing  the  origin  and  paternity  of  tliis  mare. 

Her  own  history  and  character,  aside  from  that  which  pertains  to 
her  origin,  are  worthy  of  a  careful  study. 

She  was  not  a  roadster  from  use  and  development.  She  was  used 
by  a  farmer,  in  a  hilly  country,  to  haul  farmers'  truck  and  products  to 
the  market  of  towns  some  miles  distant.  She  generally  drew  a  one- 
horse  wagon,  a  sort  of  gardener's  or  farmer's  truck  wao-on.  In  addi- 
tion  to  this,  she  was  used  on  the  farm  for  the  various  single  and  double 
team  work  of  the  farm.  She  was  not  driven  in  a  buggy,  or  a  sulky, 
or  any  of  the  light  vehicles  used  now  for  fast  work  or  to  call  out 
speed.  But  for  all  this  slow  routine  of  farm  drudgery,  she  could  trot 
home  from  the  market,  a  distance  of  seventeen  miles,  at  a  rate  that 
caused  her  to  be  regarded  as  an  old  mare  of  more  than  ordinary 
capacity  and  quality. 

She  attained  the  age  of  about  thirty  years,  showing  by  her  endur- 
ance that  she  possessed  the  blood  and  stauiina  of  some  long-lived  and 
well-bred  family. 

She  lived  in  a  covmty  where  good  blood  was  not  scarce.  The  great 
Mambrino,  son  of  Messenger,  had  spent  all  his  days,  or  the  greater 
part  thereof,  and  died  on  an  adjacent  farm.  Hambletonian,  son  of 
Messenger  and  sire  of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  the  Green  Mountain 
trotting  sire,  had  left  much  of  his  stock  in  the  same  county. 

Duroc  was  owned  and  kept  part  of  his  life  in  the  same  county. 
Bellfounder  had  spent  part  of  his  days  in  service  in  the  same  county. 
It  had  been  noted  for  the  breeding  of  its  horses  from  the  earliest 
days. 


436  MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

In  this  county  this  mare  was  regarded  as  a  good  one,  and  raised 
the  then  greatest  trotters  and  the  greatest  trotting  stallion  ever  pro- 
duced in  the  county.  She  produced  two  of  these,  including  the  great 
trottino-  sire,  from  a  horse  that  had  no  character  as  a  trotting  sire, 
except  that  which  was  latent  and  suppressed  and  could  only  be  called 
out  by  a  mare  that  possessed  just  such  qualities  as  a  Duroc-Messen- 
o-er — close  and  strong  in  the  blood  of  that  union — and  one  which  in 
his  entire  life  never  found  the  precise  elements  and  qualifications 
requisite  for  such  a  success  save  in  this  one  mare. 

Moreover,  she  was  a  mare  with  many  elements  of  coarseness  and  a 
possible  background  of  low  breeding;  but  for  all  that,  the  qualities 
she  presented  ready  for  use,  those  which  gave  her  character,  were  of 
the  best  that  could  have  been  found  in  any  combination.  If  she 
could  have  only  found  such  a  stallion  as  Abdallah  or  Royal  George, 
she  would  have  produced  a  trotting  sire  that  for  impressiveness  and 
grand  trotting  quality  would  have  surpassed  Hambletonian  as  far  as 
the  latter  surpassed  Ohio  Bellfounder.  The  one  great  lament  of  the 
enthusiastic  breeder  must  forever  be  that  this  mare  did  not  mate  with 
one  or  the  other  of  these  great  trotting  stallions;  and  this  must  go 
hand  in  hand  with  the  other  undying  lament  that  some  great  daugh- 
ter of  Mambrino  Chief — old  Lady  Thorn,  Jessie  Pepper,  Monogram, 
Blandina,  or  Fayette  Belle — did  not  mate  with  the  great  Hamble- 
tonian. 

It  remains  to  be  noticed  that,  while  the  original  union  of  the  blood 
was  formed  by  the  Diomed  sire  on  the  Messenger  dam,  the  richer 
fruits  came  out  when  the  union  of  Mambrino  Paymaster  on  the  Mes- 
seno-er  Duroc  dam  occurred;  and  in  like  manner  since  that  cross,  the 
union  of  the  Messenger-bred  sire  on  the  Duroc- Messenger,  or  Mam- 
brino Chief  dam.  has  been  productive  of  the  best  results.  It  is  not 
believed  that  the  reverse  order  of  crossing  will  be  in  any  degree 
advantageous  in  the  early  stages  of  the  union,  although  we  have 
abundant  evidence  that  the  remote  Duroc  cross  in  the  Duroc-Messen- 
ger  union  is  often  found  in  a  superior  and  highly  impressive  stallion, 
such  as  Administrator,  Almont,  Volunteer  and  Governor  Sprague.  I 
have  been  assured  by  two  gentlemen,  each  of  whom  know  the  earlier 
sons  of  Duroc  from  Messenger  mares,  that,  in  the  apparent  character- 
istics of  the  two  horses,  those  of  Messenger  predominated,  in  gait, 
appearance  and  general  ways  and  manner,  but  that  in  the  next  gen- 
eration, or  the  produce  of  these  Duroc-Messenger  stallions,  the  Duroc 
o-ait  and  ways  were  more  apparent,  and  that  in  successive  generations 


DUIJOC   BLOOD.  437 

the  tendency  was  strong  toward  the  Duroc  character.  They  each 
agreed  that  American  Eclipse  was  a  Messenger,  but  that  his  produce 
Avere  generally  Durocs.  This  is  an  interesting,  but  a  very  singular 
fact,  and  shows  that  this  peculiar  conformation  of  Duroc,  which 
shapes  and  controls  in  the  matter  of  gait,  is  a  progressive  one.  No 
one  can  doubt  this  who  studies  our  Duroc-Messenger  families.  The 
Almonts,  Blackwoods  and  Swigerts  are  strongly  Duroc  gaited. 

While  this  Messenger  Duroc  blood  displays  such  high  qualities  as 
a.  trotting  element,  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  it  is  only  where  the 
Diomed  is  kept  under  proper  control  by  the  superior  virtue  and 
strength  of  the  Messenger  that  such  quality  exists,  this  being  the 
only  constituent  that  can  with  safety  be  strengthened  by  in-breeding. 
"We  hear  no  complaint  from  any  quarter  of  too  much  of  the  latter 
blood.  No  pedigree  is  regarded  as  tainted,  unsound,  or  lacking  in 
stamina,  in  consequence  of  a  superabundance  of  that  element.  Un- 
like all  others,  it  exists  in  its  greatest  jDurity  and  richest  exuberance 
of  action  and  power  where  there  is  most  of  it.  Not  so  with  the  Duroc 
or  any  of  the  other  Diomed  strains.  As  they  are  reinforced  by  kin- 
dred elements,  the  taint  of  unsoundness  is  intensified,  and  the  ten- 
dency toward  the  trotting  gait  disappears. 


OHAPTEE  XXIII. 

DESCENDANTS  OF  MAMBRINO  CHIEF. 

Mambrino  Chief  went  to  Kentucky  in  the  spring  of  1854.  His 
home  for  the  first  years  of  his  Kentucky  life  was  at  Ashland,  a  place 
celebrated  in  the  history  of  this  country  as  the  home  of  the  great  and 
honored  Henry  Clay. 

This  place,  made  famous  by  the  residence  of  the  illustrious  orator 
and  statesman,  is  located  about  one  mile  east  of  the  city  of  Lexing- 
ton, and  in  full  view  of  the  monument,  which  stands  in  the  cemetery 
on  the  western  limits  of  the  city,  and  commemorates  the  fame  of 
Kentucky's  great  son.  At  Ashland,  the  great  trotting  sire  was  kept 
until  1857,  when  he  Avas  sold  to  Messrs.  Gray  &  Jones,  of  Woodford 
county,  and  was  taken  to  the  place  of  Col.  Jones,  and  remained  there 
until  his  death  in  18G1. 

As  the  fame  of  Mambrino  Chief  may  be  said  to  have  commenced 
with  that  of  his  great  daughter,  Lady  Thorn,  I  begin  my  sketch  of 
his  produce  with  his  daughters,  and  first  of  all  others,  the  mare  of 
wonderful  organism  and  high  renown, 

LADY   THORIT. 

She  was  foaled  in  1856,  and  consequently  came  from  the  second 
year's  service  of  the  Chief.  So  much  has  been  written  concerning  the 
history  of  this  mare  that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  rewrite  it  in  full,  but 
shall  avail  myself  of  parts  and  portions  of  that  which  has  been 
wnritten  by  others,  and  shall  present  full  extracts  taken  from  two 
sketches  that  have  been  given  to  the  public,  one  by  Dr.  L.  Herr,  of 
Lexington,  Kentvicky,  and  the  other  by  J.  H.  Sanders,  editor  of  the 
National  Llve-iStock  Journal.  Dr.  Herr  was  the  early  owner  and 
trainer  of  the  mare,  and  while  these  pages  are  not  devoted  to  the 
personal  history  and  character  of  owners  or  breeders  of  horses,  I 
deetn  it  proper  to  make  some  reference  to  one  whose  life  and  pro- 
fessional   attainments    have    so   intimately    associated    him   with   th^ 

(438) 


LADY   thorn's   EARLY   TUTOR.  439 

breeding  and  management  of  trotting  horses.  Dr.  Herr  is  now  past 
sixty  years  of  age,  has  lived  at  Lexington  for  many  years,  is  a  gentle- 
man not  large  in  stature,  but  has  at  his  command  all  the  attainments 
ever  reached  in  his  line  of  business  in  the  highest  state  of  develop- 
ment and  practice.  A  gentleman  of  the  highest  degree  of  intelligence, 
never  lacking  in  the  instincts  and  proprieties  which  become  a  man 
who  is  the  acknowledged  head  of  his  profession  or  occupation,  and 
one  who  in  the  midst  of  all  the  jealousies,  rivalries  and  personal 
detractions,  incident  to  the  business  which  has  been  that  of  his  life^ 
never  needs  the  aid  of  any  one  in  attending  to  his  business,  and  never 
squanders  an}-  time  in  looking  after  the  business  of  another.  The 
city  and  community  in  which  he  lives,  abound  with  those  who  are 
connected  with  the  production  and  management  of  blood  horses,  and 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  place  in  America  presents  so  great  a  numbei', 
a  list  so  capable,  and  of  such  high  respectability  and  integrity.  In 
all  the  list.  Dr.  Levi  Herr  stands  without  a  rival  or  a  peer.  In  the 
extracts  which  I  make  from  his  sketch  of  Lady  Thorn,  it  is  well  for 
the  reader  to  understand  the  eminent  ability  of  the  author.  He  is 
also  the  owner  of  the  full  brother  of  the  great  trotting  mare,  and  his 
reputation  and  success  in  business  life,  both  very  great,  have  been  and 
are  intimately  connected  with  this  fact,  and  no  one  ever  yet  saw  the 
day  when  the  Doctor  was  not  in  the  strict  path  of  business. 

lA\dj  Thorn  was  bred  in  Fayette  county,  Kentucky,  by  Levi  T. 
Rodes.  his  father  William  Rodes  being  owner  of  the  dam.  When  she 
came  to  maturity,  she  was  a  large  bay  mare,  full  sixteen  and  a  quarter 
hands  high.  Her  dam  was  by  Gano,  a  son  of  American  Eclipse,  and  her 
grandam  was  by  a  son  of  Sir  William.  The  dam  of  Gano  was  Betsy 
Richards,  by  John  Richards,  son  of  Sir  Archy,  and  this  Sir  William,, 
whose  son  was  the  sire  of  her  grandam,  was  by  Sir  Archy  from  the 
mare  called  Transport,  and  was  called  Sir  Wilhara  of  Transport. 

Gano  was  a  good  and  strong  race  horse,  and  had,  it  will  be 
observed,  one  line  of  Messenger  blood,  coming  through  the  dam  of 
American  Eclipse,  Miller's  damsel,  a  daughter  of  Messenger. 

I  take  the  following,  with  slight  and  immaterial  changes,  from  the 
sketch  by  Dr.  Herr: 

Going  back  to  the  great  grandam  of  Lady  Thorn  and  Mambrino  Patclien^ 
we  find  that  she  was  a  bay,  ISJ^  hands  high,  of  fine  style,  and  showing  great 
quality  and  blood  in  every  part.  She  was,  moreover,  entirely  sound,  without 
blemish,  and  lived  to  a  very  great  age,  besides  being  a  natural  pacer.  Mr. 
Levi  Rodcs,  whose  father  owned  her,  says  he  never  knew  her  to  depart  from. 


440  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

the  pace.  She  tvouIcI  lead  the  horses  in  their  playful  frolics  in  the  pasture' 
she  pacing  and  the  others  running.  She  produced  the  Sir  William  mare,  the 
grandam  of  Lady  Thorn,  and  Mambrino  Patchen. 

Lady  Thorn's  Grandam. — This  wa's  a  sorrel  mare,  with  a  blaze  face,  and 
four  white  legs;  was  153^  hands  high,  and  also, like  her  dam,  a  natural  pacer. 
■She  was  used  by  the  father  of  Mr.  Levi  Rodes  as  a  first-class  and  sure-footed 
saddle  mare ;  perfect,  sound  and  long-lived.  She  looked  like  a  thoroughbred, 
and  was  by  a  son  of  Sir  William.  The  foregoing  is  all  that  Mr.  Rodes  can 
remember  of  what  his  father  said  about  the  breeding  of  this  mare.  Slie 
produced  the  dam  of  Lady  Thorn,  and  Mambrino  Patchen;  also  a  chest- 
nut mare  by  Post  Boy. 

The  dam  of  Lady  Thorn  was  raised  and  bred  by  William  Rodes,  of  Fayette 
■county,  Ky.  The  mare  to  which  attention  is  now  directed,  was  a  blood-bay, 
15}^  hands  high,  with  all  the  best  characteristics  of  the  thoroughbred  about 
her,  showing  high  quality  at  all  points.  Her  legs  and  feet  were  like  polished 
steel,  she  was  beautifully  proportioned  and  balanced  in  her  form — no  mixture 
of  good  and  bad,  large  and  small  points,  but  as  stated,  any  one  part  admira- 
bly answering  to  the  co-related  part  throughout.  Eyes  large  and  perfect; 
carriage  elegant,  with  extra  tail.  Her  regular  trot  seemed  as  though  it  could 
not  be  improved,  so  extraordinarily  regular  and  machine-like  were  the  move- 
ments.   Stride  elastic,  level>  open ;  and  her  bottom  of  the  best. 

The  dam  of  Lady  Thorn  produced  several  other  foals;  Lady  Thorn 
was  her  fourth,  her  seventh  was  the  stallion  Kentucky  Clay,  by 
Strader's  Cassius  M.  Clay  Jr.,  and  her  eighth  and  last  which  survived, 
was  Mambrino  Patchen,  the  brother  of  Lady  Thorn.  The  old  mare, 
afterward  in  foal  to  Mambrino  Pilot,  was  sold  to  Charles  S.  Dole, 
Esq.,  and  removed  to  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Dole  having  left  her  with  a 
person  who  neglected  her,  she  died  in  a  lot  north  of  the  city,  and 
not  far  from  the  present  site  of  Ravenswood;  she  died  at  her  foaling 
time,  and  the  foal  was  also  lost.     Dr.  Herr  further  says: 

HISTORY  AND   BREEDING   OF   LADY  THORN. 

Mr.  Levi  T.  Rodes,  who,  in  1855  and  previously,  owned  the  dam  of  Lady 
Thorn,  bred  her  to  Mambrino  Chief,  and  Ihe  produce  in  1856  was  Lady  Thorn. 
After  she  was  a  year  old  past,  Mr.  Levi  T.  Rodes  broke  her  to  sulky,  and  this 
gentleman  informs  me  that  she  was  naturally  kind,  and  showed  no  disposition 
to  kick  or  be  vicious  in  any  way.  When  she  was  two  years  old,  Mr.  Rodes 
sold  her  to  Mr.  Henry  Dunlap — price,  |300,  and  two  boxes  of  plantation 
cigars.  Both  the  parlies  to  this  transaction  were  of  Fayette  county,  Ky.  Mr. 
Dunlap  drove  her  single  and  double  the  summer  and  fall  she  was  two  years 
old;  and  did  so  with  and  without  blinds,  at  all  hours  of  the  night.  Mr. 
Dunlap  was  fond  of  playing  billiards,  and  although  I  was  not  keeping  a 
public  stable,  he  insisted  on  putting  up  his  driving  horses  with  me,  iny  place 
being  convenient  to  where  he  used  to  amuse  himself,  and  from  which  it  was 
not  unusual  for  him  to  start  for  home  as  late  as  12  or  1  o'clock  in  the  night — 


LADY    THORlSr.  441 

lie  driving  the  Lady  on  those  occasions.  I  mention  this  to  sliow  that  previous 
to  the  mishap,  due  to  an  accident,  she  was  entirely  kind  to  all  harness.  Late  in 
that  same  falH  had  her  under  treatment  for  distemper,  and  after  she  recovered 
and  gained  her  natural  strength  and  spirits,  Dunlap  borrowed  a  road  sulky 
I'rom  me,  and  to  it  th'ove  her  for  exercise  the  first  time  after  recovering.  I 
cautioned  him  regarding  the  risk  he  was  taking  in  driving  her  on  so  cold  a 
day,  she  feeling  as  playful  as  she  did — but  nothing  short  of  driving  her  would 
satisfy  liim.  Whilst  being  driven,  under  the  harness  she  wore  a  heavy 
blanket,  which  came  down  below  her  knees  and  hocks,  as  was  then  fashiona- 
ble. He  drove  her  out  on  the  Harrodsburg  pike  one  and  one-half  miles,  and 
in  turning  to  come  back  a  gale  of  wind  struck  the  long  blanket,  and,  as 
already  intimated,  as  she  was  in  a  playful  mood,  besides  feeling  cold,  she 
made  a  lunge  and  kick,  and  the  result  was  slie  hung  her  left  hind  leg  over  the 
cross-bar  and  got  thrown ;  and  as  there  was  no  one  to  assist,  there  was  con- 
siderable rolling  and  tumbling  about  on  the  pike  before  she  could  be  extri- 
cated from  the  sulky.  And  thus  in  the  imprudent  and  careless  way  described 
she  was  frightened,  and  it  took  me  a  good  while  to  get  her  over  it;  but  it 
should  be  remembered  that  she  never  ran  nor  got  loose  from  a  vehicle.  In 
the  winter  coming  three  years  old,  I  bouglit  one-half  interest  in  her,  and 
afterM'ard  Mr.  Dunlap  sold  me  his  remaining  interest — this  to  be  paya- 
ble when  I  sold  her.  At  three  years  old  she  trotted  and  received  forfeits, 
some  particulars  respecting  which  I  will  give  below — and  it  became  evident 
that  she  could  trot  fast.  At  four  years  old  she  lost  her  speed,  and  could  not 
beat  3 :17,  any  way  we  could  trot  her.  Ajid  yet  she  looked  well,  fed  well,  and 
was  the  picture  of  health,  doing,,  in  short,  admirably  in  every  particular, 
except  that  she  could  not  send  herself  along  the  ground  to  make  time.  I 
bred  her  this  season  to  Cassius  ]*,I.  Clay  Jr.,  and  concluded  I  would  have 
every  reason  to  expect  something  good,  but  she  was  not  in  foal.  The  spring 
she  was  five  years  old  her  speed  came  to  her  again,  and  she  could  just  about 
fly,  and  continued  to  do  well  every  season  until  I  sold  her,  which  I  did  when 
:-lie  was  seven  years  old.  During  the  most  dangerous  time  of  the  war  I  sent 
Lady  Thorn  and  Mambrino  Pilot  to  Ohio  for  safety.  Mr.  Dunlap  and  I 
bought  Lady  Thorn's  dam  in  i^artnership,  and  afterward  I  bought  his  inter- 
est. Lady  Thorn  was  a  blood  bay,  161^  hands  high.  She  lost  her  eye  by 
accident — an  external  injury.  Her  name,  while  owned  by  me  and  until  she 
left  Kentucky,  was  Maid  of  Ashland. 

I  sliall  now  briefly  enumerate  Lady  Thorn's  trotting  performances  before 
she  left  Kentucky.  The  summer  she  was  three  years  old,  she  was  matched  in 
three  races.  She  received  forfeit  from  two  of  these,  and  trotted  the  other 
against  Capt.  Thomas  Steele's  .Snow  Storm,  three  in  five,  which  was  won 
by  Thorn  in  three  straight  heats,  it  not  being  necessary  for  her  to  display  even 
an  exercising  gait,  and  not  seclciug  to  make  time,  was  pulled  all  the  way.  In 
the  fall  she  was  trotted  in  the  Lexington  Stake.  Kentucky  Chief,  the  Stan- 
hope mare,  Ericsson,  and  Lady  Thorn  started.  Ericsson  and  the  Stanhope 
mare  were  distanced  in  the  first  heat.  Lady  Thorn,  under  the  disadvantages 
of  extra  weight,  a  heavy  road  sulky,  kicking  and  breaking  harness,  was  sec- 
ond.   She  lapped  on  Kentucky  Chief 's  wheel,  and  but  for  a  mishap  in  the 


443  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBllINO   CniEF. 

second  heat,  would  have  won  it  and  the  race.  She  trotted  under  the  draw- 
backs named,  in  about  2:52.  At  the  Louisville  Fall  Meeting  I  entered  licr  in 
the  three-year-old  race,  against  Kentucky  Chief  and  others,  all  of  which  I 
had  good  reason  to  believe  she  could  beat.  In  the  race,  after  trotting  in  the 
lead,  her  bit  broke,  and  having  a  nose  band  on  her  bridle,  she  was  gradually 
taken  up  without  anj^  demonstrations  of  kicking  or  ill  temper,  and  of  course 
walked  home  and  was  distanced.  In  1863,  at  the  Spring  Meeting,  Louisville, 
Ky.,  I  entered  Thorn  in  a  three-in-five  race,  free  for  all.  Belle  of  Indiana 
and  Thorn  trotted  for  the  purse,  Thorn  winning  at  her  ease  in  three  straight 
heats.  The  next  day  I  entered  her  in  the  two-mile  heat  race,  with  Indiana 
Belle,  Mountain  Jack,  and  others;  and  Thorn  won  without  ever  being  ex- 
tended in  any  part  of  the  race.  My  object  was  to  drive  her  behind,  in  front 
and  in  the  crowd  occasionally;  and  then  letting  her  work  through  the  horses 
to  the  front,  so  as  to  test  her  in  a  crowd,  etc.  After  which  I  sold  her  to  C. 
P.  Relf,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Lady  Thorn  was  seven  years  old  when  she  was  sold  by  Dr.  Herr. 
The  residue  of  her  history  I  take  from  the  sketch  given  by  Mr. 
Sanders: 

Mr.  Relf  owned  her  until  the  fall  of  1865,  and  during  this  time  she  was 
handled  by  Sam  McLaughlin,  who  drove  her  in  her  first  race  with  Dexter,  at 
the  Old  Union  Course.  It  was  Dexter's  second  year  on  the  turf,  and  he  had 
already  secured  a  record  of  3:243^.  The  mare  was  two  years  older;  but 
Dexter  was  regarded  as  a  certain  winner,  for  up  to  that  time  he  had  never  been 
beaten.  But  it  was  Thorn's  day.  She  won  the  first  heat  in  3 :24,  the  second  in 
3 :863^ ;  Dexter  took  the  third  in  3 :37,  and  the  mare  finished  the  race  by  taking 
the  next  heat  in  3:263^.  This  race  was  trotted  June  12,  1865.  McLaughlin 
won  two  races  with  her  in  1863,  the  year  that  Mr.  Relf  bought  her.  The  next 
year  she  did  not  do  much  good,  and  only  won  one  race ;  but  this  was  in  very 
fast  time,  for  she  made  a  record  of  2:24  in  the  second  heat.  She  won  two 
races  in  1865,  before  Relf  sold  her—one  in  which  she  beat  Dexter,  and  one  with 
Frank  Vernon  and  Stonewall  Jackson. 

In  the  fall  of  this  year,  Mr.  A.  Welch  and  J.  D.  McMann  bought  her,  and 
they  let  Dan  Pfifer  have  her  to  drive.  He  won  a  race  with  her  that  fall,  beat- 
ing George  Wilkes  and  Lady  Emma,  the  best  heat  being  2  ■.2II4.  The  next 
year  she  won  six  races,  but  none  of  them  were  very  fast.  In  1867,  she  won 
five  races,  one  of  them  being  a  two-mile  race,  to  wagon ;  but  the  best  one  of 
the  year  was  at  Fashion  Course,  September  30th,  when  she  beat  Mountain 
Boy,  Lucy  and  Bruno.  Thorn  got  the  first  heat  in  2 :25^^,  the  Boy  won  the 
second  in  2 :34>^,  and  then  Thorn  took  the  next  two  in  3 :34  each,  which  shows 
how  game  a  mare  she  was.  In  1868,  she  beat  nearly  all  the  best  horses  on  the 
turf— Lucy,  George  Wilkes,  General  Butler,  Rolla  Golddust,  Rhode  Island, 
Mountain  Boy,  George  Palmer — and  got  her  record  down  to  3 :303^.  Dan  Pfifer 
drove  her  the  first  part  of  1869,  and  beat  American  Girl  twice,  and  Goldsmith 
Maid  once;  but  in  August,  J.  D.  McMann  took  her  himself,  as  Pfifer  was 
sick. 

The  last  race  that  Pfifer  drove  her  was  her  first  tilt  with  Goldsmith  Maid> 


CLOSE   OF   HER   CAKEER.  443 

and  it  was  a  hot  one;  but  Thorn  disposed  of  it  in  tliree  heats  in  2:21?^,  2:201^^, 
2 :21 14^.  But  the  two  mares  met  again  a  month  later,  at  Prospect  Park ;  and  as 
it  was  the  first  time  that  McMann  had  driven  her,  a  good  deal  of  interest  was 
awakened  in  the  race.  American  Girl  was  also  in  this  fight ;  but  Thorn  was 
agam  able  to  win  in  straight  heats,  and  she  put  them  all  in  close  together — 
2:203^,  2:201^,  2:203^,  which  was  the  best  race  she  had  ever  trotted  up  to  that 
time.  McMann  won  five  more  races  with  her  that  season ;  the  last  and  best 
being  at  Narragansett  Park,  October  8th,  when  she  beat  Geo.  Palmer,  Gold- 
smith Maid,  Lucy,  and  American  Girl.  This  was  the  fastest  race  ever  trotted 
up  to  that  date.  Thorn  got  the  first,  second  and  fourth  in  2:19j^,  2:18i4, 
2:21,  and  Geo.  Palmer  got  the  third  in  2:19Q2£.  This  was  the  fastest  race 
the  old  mare  ever  trotted,  and  the  time  made  in  the  second  heat  is  her  best 
record. 

In  May,  1870,  she  was  bought  by  Dan  Mace,  for  $20,000.  Her  first  race  in 
his  hands  was  on  the  4th  of  July,  against  George  Wilkes  and  others,  at 
Prospect  Park.  It  was  an  easy  race  for  Thorn,  and  she  won  in  three  straight 
heats.  July  22d,  on  the  same  track,  she  had  a  race  with  Goldsmith  Maid. 
This  was  looked  upon  by  outsiders  as  pretty  nearly  an  even  thing ;  for  although 
Thorn  had  beaten  her  in  every  race  the  previous  year,  yet  people  thought  it 
was  doubtful  if  she  could  do  it  now.  But  she  won  the  race  in  three  straight 
heats,  without  much  eflbrt.  Her  next  and  last  race  was  at  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
August  3d,  when  she  beat  Geo.  Palmer  in  slow  time;  but  displayed  wonderful 
speed,  trotting  the  last  half  of  the  third  heat  in  1 :06. 

Her  next  race  after  the  Rochester  race  was  to  have  been  at  Buffalo, 
and  in  loading  her  upon  a  railroad  car,  the  movable  platform  was 
allowed  to  slip,  and  she  fell,  with  her  hip  striking  the  iron  rail  of  the 
railroad  track,  and  the  bone  was  broken — as  it  is  generally  styled, 
was  knocked  down — and  that  ended  her  trotting  days.  She  was  at 
this  time  very  fast,  and  the  public  have  been  advised  that  in  her  then 
condition  she  gave  such  evidences  of  speed  as  to  indicate  that  she 
would  in  her  Buffalo  race,  make  a  time  record  that  would  stand  as  a 
defiant  challenge  for  a  long  time  ahead.  Her  driver  and  owner 
makes  the  statement  that  she  was  good  for  2:10,  and  that  he  could 
drive  her  the  last  half  mile  of  a  race  in  1:04.  She  closed  her  dis- 
tinguished career  on  the  turf  with  a  record  of  2:18:^,  and  one  hundred 
and  six  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Soon  after  this  unfortunate  mishap  the  great  trotting  mare  was  sold 
to  H.  N.  Smith,  Esq.,  proprietor  of  the  Fashion  Stud  Farm  at  Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  and  sent  to  that  place.  She  died  on  the  23d  of  June, 
1877.  While  at  the  Fashion  farm  she  was  kept  as  a  breeding  mare 
and  has  left  one  son  and  a  daughter,  both  by  the  stallion  Gen.  Knox, 
the  former  named  General  Washington,  having  been  foaled  on  the 
22d  day  of  February,  1874. 


44i  DESCENDANTS   OF    MAMBKINO   CHIEF. 

Lady  Thorn  served  two  purposes,  neither  of  which  seem  to  have 
come  in  proper  time.  She  showed  the  true  greatness  of  Mambrino 
Chief,  and  she  also  gave  proof  of  the  quality  and  character  of  mares 
which  should  have  been  sent  to  him. 

Her  physical  conformation  has  been  often  referred  to  and  deserves 
special  consideration.  She  had  a  long  forearm  and  a  short  front  can- 
non, 22  inches  for  the  former  and  11^  inches  for  the  latter,  and  she 
trotted  with  a  straight,  unbending  front  leg.  This  has  been  adverted 
to  by  nearly  every  one  who  has  written  concerning  her  gait.  Further- 
more, her  rear  leverage  and  the  gait  which  accompanied  it  should 
teach  VIS  an  important  lesson.  Her  propelling  power  seemed  to  be 
immense,  and  yet  it  worked  with  less  apparent  effort  or  display  than 
is  generally  seen  in  trotters  that  have  large  machinery.  She  did  not 
spread  her  feet  wide  apart  behind,  was  no  sort  of  a  sprawler — but 
trailed  her  hocks  low,  reaching  far  out  behind  and  advancing  her  feet 
forward  further  than  any  trotter  ever  seen  on  our  turf.  While  she 
was  a  mare  of  great  strength  and  disjolayed  power  in  every  stride,  her 
trotting  showed  more  the  result  of  great  and  easy  working  machinery 
than  of  powerful  muscular  organism.  In  some  families,  as  the  sons 
of  Edward  Everett,  the  trotting  excellence  is  shown  to  be  the  product 
of  marvelous  muscular  power;  in  the  case  of  Lady  Thorn,  it  was  due 
to  her  perfection  of  machinery.  Her  hind  feet  moved  along  in  true 
hues,  apparently  under  or  alongside  of  her  body,  but  the  way  in 
which  she  reached  them  forward  and  raked  the  earth  from  under  her 
was  a  sight  for  all  the  beholders.  Her  rear  conformation  was  entirely 
exceptional,  and  was  not  such  as  her  blood  composition  or  her  family 
form  would  have  indicated.  She  differed  entirely  from  her  full  broth- 
er, Mambrino  Patchen,  He  measures  39^  inches  from  the  centre  of 
his  hip  to  the  outer  edge  of  his  hock,  and  24^  inches  in  the  length  of 
his  thigh,  precisely  what  we  might  expect  for  a  son  of  Mambrino  Chief 
from  a  second  Eclipse  and  Sir  Archy  mare.  But  Lady  Thorn  had  a 
thigh  only  23  inches  in  length,  and  from  the  centre  of  her  hip  to  the 
outer  edare  of  her  hock  she  was  42  inches.  This  was  the  measure- 
ment  of  Dr.  Herr.  When  I  saw  her  in  February,  1876,  she  measured 
43  inches  from  the  centre  of  the  hip  to  the  edge  of  the  hock,  but 
Mr.  Conover  and  myself  agreed  that  an  allowance  of  at  least  one 
inch  must  be  made  for  the  forward  projection  of  the  sound  hip,  that 
one  evidently  to  the  eye  being  thrown  forward  by  the  other  being 
•down.  Her  high  breeding  and  her  immense  machinery  for  trotting 
leverage  made  her  the  great  trotter  that  she  was,  and  there  can  be  no 


GENERAL   WASHINGTON.  415 

doubt  that  had  she  escaped  accident  and  continued  in  health  on  th& 
turf,  she  would  have  stood  at  the  head  of  the  list.  I  do  not  suppose 
she  was  one  of  the  kind  that,  like  Goldsmith  Maid,  could  work  on  in 
that  frictionless  way  and  keep  in  ready  repair  at  all  times,  each  day 
evincing  improvement  until  she  reached  the  age  of  twenty  years,  but 
she  would  have  attained  a  strength  and  a  degree  of  speed  that  would 
have  enabled  her  to  now  and  then  make  a  record  which  would  have- 
been  rarely  reached  by  the  best  trotters  which  have  yet  appeared. 

Her  greatness  as  a  trotter  is  to  be  estimated  by  her  known  superior- 
ity over  her  famous  competitors.  They  were  Dexter,  Mountain  Boy, 
Goldsmith  Maid,  American  Girl,  Lucy,  George  Palmer.  She  was 
in  her  prime,  and  was  showing  a  rate  of  speed  which  had  not  been 
attained  at  that  time  by  any  trotter,  although  she  had  not  in  any  race 
equaled  the  time  of  Dexter,  and  her  time  has  since  been  surj^assed  by 
nearlv  all  of  the  srreat  ones  ao-ainst  whom  she  trotted  in  those  davs. 
But  all  who  knew  her  regarded  her  as  still  good  for  the  front  place, 
and  her  chances  for  improvement  were  quite  as  good  as  any  of  the 
entire  number.  But  her  trotting  career  once  ended  she  was  long 
looked  upon  as  the  greatest  mare  for  breeding  purposes  that  this 
country  had  ever  furnished,  and  of  the  correctness  of  this  I  have  no  sort 
of  doubt. 

She  raised  a  son  and  a  daughter  by  General  Knox,  but  the  great  gulf 
of  disparity  between  the  two  will  raise  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of 
the  union,  which  can  only  be  settled  by  the  actual  success  of  the 
progeny.  The  blood  forces  may  have  so  worked  that  General  Washing- 
ton will  reproduce  in  high  degree  the  excellences  of  both  of  his  parents;, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  may  take  after  one  in  this  particular  and  the 
other  in  a  different,  and  no  one  can  determine  until  the  result  is  actu- 
ally seen,  what  it  will  be.  The  two  parents  belong  to  classes  far 
apart,  and  changes  from  one  to  the  other  in  such  cases  must  be  made 
by  gradual  approaches. 

When  I  saw  General  Washington  as  a  two-year-old  he  showed  in 
his  general  form  much  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  appearance.  I  have 
not  seen  him  since,  and  have  been  unable  to  obtain  the  basis  of  a 
proper  estimate.  Great  as  the  regret  may  have  been  over  the 
accident  by  which  the  trotting  turf  lost  so  great  a  luminary,  to  my 
mind  the  greatest  cause  of  regret  is  found  in  the  fact  that  Lady 
Thorn  was  not  sent  to  Hambletoniau.  The  result  would,  in  my 
opinion,  have  been  (if  a  male)  the  most  valuable  stallion  ever  bred  in 
this  country.     Hambletonian   with    his   rear   leverage    of   41   inches^ 


446  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

and  Lady  Thorn  with  her  42  inches,  would,  in  all  likelihood,  have 
given  us  a  stallion  sixteen  hands  in  height  and  of  the  most  superior 
physical  conformation,  as  well  as  the  grandest  combination  of  great 
excellences  ever  yet  seen. 

The  unappropriated  opportunity  may  in  its  suggestive  lessons  still 
have  some  value.  When  her  own  greatness  as  a  mare  is  fully  realized, 
and  the  substantial  additions  that  have  been  made  to  our  breeding: 
stud  and  trotting  stock  through  the  other  daughters  of  Mambrino 
Chief  are  considered,  then  are  we  prepared  to  form  a  proper  estimate 
of  the  greatness  of  Mambrino  Chief. 

HIS    OTHER    DAUGHTERS. 

Jessie  Pepper,  foaled  1861,  was  a  dark  brown  mare;  her  dam  was 
by  Sidi  Hamet,  her  grandam  said  to  be  by  Diomed.  This  mare  was 
also  trained  and  driven  in  races  in  Kentucky,  and  when  driven  very 
hard  she  showed  excellent  trotting  quality  and  could  trot  in  better 
than  2:40.  She  was  blind  for  several  years,  and  raised  colts  of  both 
sexes.  She  was  a  very  valuable  brood  mare,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
some  of  her  produce  will  attain  to  distinction.  I  have  no  list  of  her 
produce,  but  know  her  well. 

The  dam  of  Alta  was  from  a  mare  by  Grey  Eagle,  and  a  well  bred 
mare.  She  produced  Alta  by  American  Clay,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
ising colts  ever  foaled  in  Kentucky.  At  six  years  he  had  a  record  in 
2:32,  and  had  trotted  below  2:30.  He  died  from  accident.  She  has 
left  other  valuable  produce. 

Lady  Eleanor  was  a  large  bay  mare;  her  dam  was  a  highly  bred 
mare  sent  from  Virginia  to  Major  Thos.  Moore,  with  instructions  to 
breed  her  to  the  best  trotting  stallion  in  Kentucky.  She  was  called  a 
thoroughbred,  and  her  pedigree  accompanied  her,  but  is  now  lost.  She 
left  one  daughter  by  American  Clay,  now  owned  by  myself.  She  was 
the  dam  of  Western  Chief  by  Curtis'  Hambletonian,  now  owned  in 
Minnesota.  She  produced  a  son  by  Mambrino  Patchen  that  was  a 
colt  of  fine  size  and  trotting  action.  She  also  produced  the  mare 
Patchen  Maid  by  Mambrino  Patchen,  now  owned  by  Messrs.  McFerran 
at  Louisville,  the  dani  of  the  stallions  Marshall  Ney  and  Massena, 
by  Cuyler. 

Lady  Eleanor  was  one  of  the  finest  of  the  daughters  of  Mambrino 
Chief.  She  has  been  owned  in  later  years  by  Col.  H.  S.  Russell,  of 
Bxjston. 

Mag  Ferguson — from  a  mare  by  Grey  Eagle.     This  mare  is  the 


OTHER   DAUGHTERS.  44T 

dam  of  the  stallions  Piedmont  and  Almont  Eagle — distinction  enoughi 
for  one  mare.  She  is  owned  by  Gen.  W.  T.  Withers,  of  Kentucky.. 
These  two  sons  prove  her  value  as  a  brood  mare. 

Monogram.  This  was  a  bay  mare — not  one  of  the  largest,  but  one^ 
of  the  finest  I  ever  saw.  Her  dam  was,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,, 
of  unknown  blood.  She  was  sent  by  a  Mr.  Boice  from  South  Carolina,, 
to  be  bred  to  Mambrino  Chief,  then  owned  by  Col.  Willis  F.  Jones,, 
near  Versailles,  Ky.,  and  was  said  by  those  who  knew  her,  to  be  a. 
very  fine  animal,  and  a  superior  roadster.  She  had  previously  been, 
purchased  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  sent  to  South. 
Carolina. 

During  the  war  Col.  Jones  took  her  back  to  her  owner  in  South: 
Carolina,  who  refused  11,350  in  gold  for  her,  when  one  dollar  in  gold, 
was  worth  from  two  to  three  in  currency. 

Monogram  is  one  of  Mambrino  Chief's  last  get  (as  he  died  in  1861),, 
and  this  mare  was  foaled  in  1862.  She  is  not  only  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  perfect  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  mares,  but  she  has  remarka- 
bly fine  trotting  action,  and  would  doubtless  have  been  very  fast  had 
she  been  trained.  She  has  proved  herself  to  be  a  brood  mare  of  a  very 
high  order. 

In  1870  she  produced  the  colt  Almont  Chief,  by  Almont,  bred  by 
Col.  Richard  West,  of  Georgetown,  Ky.,  who  then  owned  the  dam. 
Almont  Chief  was  sold  at  two  years  old,  at  Col.  West's  auction  sale 
in  1872,  and  brought  $2,475. 

Maggie.  This  was  a  grey  mare;  her  dam  was  by  the  Indiana  pacer 
.Red  Buck.  She  was  at  one  time  owned  and  perhaps  bred  by  R.  A.- 
Alexander. She  was  subsequently  owned  by  Charles  S.  Dole,  Esq.,. 
and  by  E.  S.  Wadsworth,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  She  produced  the  black, 
stallion  Woodburn  Pilot,  by  Pilot  Junior.  Woodburn  Pilot  was  the 
sire  of  Argonaut,  and  was  sold  for  $10,000  to  the  Vermont  Stock. 
Company.  He  was  certainly  one  of  the  best  stallions  ever  produced, 
in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  but  he  got  out  of  his  latitude  when,  he  went, 
to  Vermont.  The  highly  bred  mares  of  Kentucky  and  the  West,, 
partly  descended  from  the  thoroughbred,  were  his  proper  field. 

Blandina.  The  dam  of  this  mare  was  the  Burch  mare,  by  BrowTL 
Pilot,  son  of  Copperbottom,  the  dam  of  Rosalind,  by  Alexander's- 
Abdallah.  Blandina  was  the  dam  of  Abdallah  Pilot,  mentioned  ia 
Chapter  XI;  and  of  Swigert,  described  in  Chapter  XXIV;  and  of 
several  other  animals  highly  prized.  She  was  a  valuable  mare.  She- 
was  owned  at  Woodburn  farm,  Kentucky,  by  the  Messrs.  Alexander.. 
29 


448  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

Indiana  is  a  black  mare,  foaled  in  1850;  her  dam  is  given  as  by 
Bertrand.  She  has  been  a  superior  breeder.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that 
"the  greatest  success  either  for  trotting  or  breeding  purposes  among 
the  daughters  of  Mambrino  Chief,  comes  from  the  produce  of  mares 
that  had  only  one  or  two  crosses  of  racing  blood.  Indiana  has  borne 
one  son,  Pilot  Mambrino,  by  Pilot  J)'.,  a  good  horse,  recently  owned 
at  Chicago.  She  has  also  borne  the  brown  stallion  Indianapolis,  by 
Tattler,  the  son  of  Pilot  Jr.     Indianapolis  has  trotted  a  mile  in  2:25^. 

Fayette  Belle  was  a  large,  dark  bay  or  brown  mare.  Her  dam  was 
T'oung  Flaxy,  by  Telegraph,  a  Kentucky  horse,  whose  blood  is  not 
known  to  me.  She  was  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Bertie,  the  fast  young 
son  of  Mambrino  Patchen,  owned  by  Robert  Bonner.  She  has  in 
later  years  been  owned  by  Harrison  Durkie,  of  New  York,  and  has 
been  breeding  to  Blackwood.  She  was  a  very  superior  mare,  and  has 
left  some  valuable  stock. 

The  DAM  OF  Blackwood  was  from  a  dun  mare  that  came  from 
Ohio,  blood  unknown.  She  was  blind,  and  not  regarded  as  a  desira- 
ble mare.  Being  in  foal  to  Norman,  Mr.  Alexander  succeeded  in 
•disposing  of  her  for  a  trifle,  but  the  produce  was  a  $30,000  stallion,  of 
"which  an  account  is  given  in  the  next  chapter. 

Young  Portia — a  brown  mare,  foaled  in  1856.  Her  dam  was  Portia, 
■by  Roebuck,  second  dam  by  Whip,  This  mare  stands  in  the  front 
rank  of  all  the  daughters  of  Mambrino  Chief.  She  has  produced 
two  stallions  that  are  sufficient  to  give  fame  to  a  family.  Her  son 
Voltaire,  foaled  in  1868,  now  stands  with  a  record  of  2:21:^,  and  a 
■winner  of  the  Breeders'  stake  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  after  a  career  of 
success  unsurpassed  in  our  turf  history. 

She  also,  in  1870,  produced  the  chestnut  stallion  Portion,  by  the 
thoroughbred  stallion  Planet,  which  has  shown  a  capacity  for  trotting 
excelled  by  few  sons  of  a  thoroughbred.  He  is  now  owned  in  Min- 
nesota, and  his  career  will  be  watched  with  much  interest.  Planet 
was  a  very  superior  stallion,  by  Revenue,  a  son  of  imported  Trustee, 
and  the  superiority  of  this  son  of  Young  Portia  will  be  often  cited  as 
proof  of  the  trotting  qualities  of  the  Trustee  family.  If  he  attains 
to  an  eminence  equal  to  that  already  achieved  by  Voltaire,  the  son  of 
Tattler,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  discuss  the  question  of  fitness  or 
unfitness  of  Planet  or  the  Trustees  for  trotting  puqioses.  The  merits 
•of  Young  Portia,  the  daughter  of  Mambrino  Chief,  are  not  likely  to 
he  lost  sight  of  in  either  case. 

The  DAM  OF  Alue  West  was  from  a  mare  by   Downing's  Bay 


LIST   OF   GKEAT   KEISTOWN.  449 

Messenger,  an  exceedingly  well  bred  mare.  If  her  fame  went  no 
further  than  the  distinction  of  having  produced  AUie  West,  it  would 
"be  enough;  for  no  greater  stallion  was  ever  bred  in   the  State  of 

Kentucky. 

The  DAM  OF  Almont  was  from  a  mare  by  Pilot  Jr.,  and  the  second 
dam  was  a  highly  bred  mare.  Her  son  has  attained  unto  so  great  an 
eminence  that  her  fame  seems  to  have  disappeared  in  the  lustre  of 
his  greatness.  No  particulars  seem  to  have  been  given  out  with  re- 
gard to  her  own  merits  or  aliility.  Almont  has  become  such  a 
famous  horse  that  we  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  he  derived  anything 
from  a  daughter  of  Mambrino  Chief. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  dam  of  Thorndale.  She  was 
also  an  exceedingly  well  bred  mare.  Her  dam  was  one  of  those 
highly  but  part  bred  mares  by  Saxe  Weimar,  a  thoroughbred — 
just  the  quantum  of  high  breeding  to  make  the  dam  of  a  trotter.  She 
would  have  been  an  excellent  mare  for  any  cross,  but  especially  for 
such  as  was  furnished  in  Alexander's  Abdallah.  The  champion  of 
1877,  in  his  grand  and  well-balanced  form,  his  high  trotting  quality, 
and  immense  bottom  and  game  in  a  race,  when  he  scored  twenty-six 
times  against  a  formidable  combination,  attests  the  superiority  of  both 
his  own  great  sire,  and  the  excellence  of  a  daughter  of  Mambrino 
Chief. 

The  DAM  OF  Belmoxt  was  from  a  daughter  of  Ohio  Bellfounder. 
She  was  certainly  a  superior  mare,  and  the  quality  of  her  blood  is 
shown  in  the  fine  trotting  qualities  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Bel- 
mont-— one  of  the  strong  characters  of  the  trotting  turf. 

The  DAM  OF  Administrator  was  produced  by  Mambrino  Chief 
while  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Her  own  merits  are  sufficiently 
shown  in  the  greatness  of  the  great  Duroc  Messenger,  now  at  the 
head  of  the  list  of  great  stallions. 

And  if  the  list  extended  no  further,  what  a  fame  to  follow  one 
name,  that  his  daughters  were  the  respective  dams  of  such  a  list  of 
great  stallions  as  Adminstrator,  Almont,  Thorndale,  Voltaire,  Belmont, 
Blackwood,  Swigert,  Woodburn  Pilot,  Allie  West,  Portion,  Piedmont, 
Pilot  Mambrino,  Indianapolis,  Almont  Chief,  Almont  Eagle,  and  Ab- 
dallah Pilot.  When  has  America  in  any  other  stallion  shoAvn  such  a 
list  of  maternal  renown? 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  list  he  left  many  daughters  that  were 
esteemed  valuable  and  which  have  left  valuable  female  descendants, 
the  dams  of  many  younger  but  very  excellent  animals. 


450  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

Bacchante  Mambrino,  was  a  grey  mare  with  a  long  ear  and  calf- 
knees.  Her  dam  was  the  mare  Grey  Bacchante  by  Downing's  Bay 
Messenger,  one  of  the  early  trotters  of  Kentucky,  full  sister  of  Tom 
Redd.  This  mare  has  produced  the  stallion  Lucknow,  and  the  mares 
Abby  Bacchante  and  Jennie  Hamilton,  all  by  Lakeland  Abdallah.  Jen- 
nie Hamilton  is  owned  by  Stephen  Bull,  Esq.,  of  Racine,  Wisconsin, 
and  is  dam  of  a  young  son  of  Swigert,  and  Abby  Bacchante  is  dam  of 
Euripides  and  a  filly,  Rhody  Bacchante  by  Governor  Sprague,  a  highly 
prized  family. 

The  stallion  Joe  Hooker  had  a  sister,  which  should  have  left  some 
good  stock,  if  properly  mated.  The  stallion  Ericsson  also  had  a  sister 
called  Psyche,  but  she  was  the  most  undesirable  great  brute  I  ever 
saw.  I  believe,  however,  she  has  been  mated  with  Enfield,  the  son 
of  Hambletonian  and  Julia  McChree,  but  I  am  not  advised  as  to  the 
results. 

Many  thoroughbred  mares  were  sent  to  Mambrino  Chief,  but  they 
were  not  the  best  suited  to  his  composition.  Lady  Montague  was 
from  such  a  mare.  Her  dam  was  Bellamira,  by  imported  Monarch;, 
2d  dam,  Kitty  Heath,  by  American  Eclipse — a  long  pedigree,  twelve 
generations  of  racing  blood  in  length.  She  is  the  dam  of  the  stallion 
Bismarck,  by  Hambletonian,  and  of  another  called  Wissahickon,  by 
Wm.  Welch.  The  mare  is  not  what  I  would  select  either  as  a  good 
brood  mare  or  as  a  good  representative  of  the  family  of  Mambrino 
Chief.  I  have  seen  her,  but  would  prefer  even  the  blind  daughter  of 
the  dun  mare  from  Ohio. 

Tramp  is  another  daughter  of  Mambrino  Chief  that  is,  perhaps,  a 
valuable  one,  as  well  as  many  others  that  have  not  become  the  dams 
of  distinguished  produce  from  the  want  of  suitable  mating. 

The  wide  dissemination  of  the  blood  of  Mambrino  Chief  through 
the  daughters,  while  the  name  will  disappear,  will  yet  leave  his- 
impress  on  the  American  trotter  to  an  extent,  perhaps,  not  surpassed 
or  even  equaled  by  that  of  any  stallion  that  has  ever  lived. 

His  service  as  a  stallion  only  covered  a  period  of  eight  years,  of 
which  anything  is  particularly  known.  Hambletonian  served  twenty- 
four  years,  and  produced,  perhaps,  six  hundred  daughters,  yet  how 
rarely  is  the  name  of  a  Hambletonian  given  as  the  dam  of  a  great 
trotter  or  stallion.  Which  of  the  two  great  sires  will  have  the  more 
numerous  descendants  twenty-five  years  hence? 


MAMBRINO    PATCHElSr.  451 

SONS    OF    MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

In  presenting-  the  sons  of  this  great  sire,  it  will  aid  us  in  reaching 
a  correct  understanding  of  the  breeding-  qualities  of  each  to  recur 
to  the  blood  qualities  of  the  Chief.  He  was  a  Duroc- Messenger. 
His  sire  was  a  grandson  of  Messenger,  whose  dam  was  a  highly  bred 
mare,  perhaps  tracing  throug-h  near  thoroughbred  lines.  His  dam 
was  a  mare  strong-  in  Duroc  and  Messenger  blood.  As  a  sire  he 
would  display  his  consanguinity  toward  lines  of  similar  blood. 
Those  possessing  combinations  similar  to  his  own  would  call  out  the 
high  trotting  and  breeding  qualities  which  he  possessed  in  the 
most  eminent  degree.  He  was  not  a  thoroughbred  horse,  although 
he  had  much  of  the  blood  qualities  of  such,  and  was  only  recently 
•descended  from  such  in  all  his  lines.  He  had  some  road  elements 
and  these  were  of  a  very  positive  and  controlling  character.  He 
would  be  an  impressive  sire  with  thoroughbred  mares,  especially  if 
their  blood  composition  was  similar  to  his  own,  and  he  would  display 
his  grandest  qualities  and  his  greatest  superiority  with  part  bred 
but  highly  bred  mares  whose  blood  composition  was  similar  to  his 
own.  He  met  just  such  a  mare  ill  the  dam  of  his  greatest  daughter 
and  his  most  distinguished  son 

MAMBRINO    PATCHEN. 

We  are  justified  in  recurring  to  her  breeding.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Gano,  and  Gano  would  have  been  exactly  such  an  animal  in  blood 
•composition  as  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Chief,  had  he  come  from  a 
common  or  part  bred  road  mare.  His  sire  was  by  Duroc,  from  a 
daughter  of  Messenger,  and  such  precisely  was  the  sire  of  the  mare 
that  bore  Mambrino  Chief.  The  second  dam  of  Mambrino  Patchen 
was  a  part  bred  mare,  by  a  highly  bred  or  thoroughbred  horse.  She 
was  a  pacer,  but  that  fact  does  not  signify  as  much  as  many  now 
assume.  She  would  have  been  quite  as  good,  had  she  been  a  road 
mare  of  trotting  rather  than  pacing  gait.  Mambrino  Chief,  in  the 
dam  of  Lady  Thorn  and  Mambrino  Patchen,  found  a  mare  bred  almost 
exactly  like  his  own  dam,  and  of  course  much  like  himself.  Hence, 
he  would  reproduce  his  own  great  qualities  in  great  force  and  posi- 
tiveness,  and  as  there  was  superadded  in  the  composition  of  this 
mare,  a  high  degree  of  quality,  or  what  we  call  blood,  so  the  produce 
would  be  Mambrino  Chief  over  again,  but  on  a  higher  and  more 
blood-like  basis.  Moreover,  Mambrino  Chief,  as  I  have  said,  would 
show  a  strong  impress   with   thoroughbred  mares   that  had  a  blood 


452  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO    CHIEF. 

composition  similar  to  liis  own,  and  in  the  produce  of  such,  he  would 
display  his  own  superior  trotting  quality,  and  the  only  defect  visible 
would  result  from  the  dissimilarity  in  quality  between  the  two — 
between  his  coarseness  and  the  extreme  fineness  of  the  thorousrhbred 
mare.  Such  I  have  already  shown  was  the  case  with  his  son  Alliam- 
bra,  a  horse  that  illustrates  both  branches  of  the  proposition  last 
suggested. 

I  here  insert  the  following  historical  scrap  cut  from  Dr.  Hen's 
sketch  of  his  horse  : 

Mambrino  Patchen  was  foaled  in  the  spring  of  1863,  in  my  stable  lot  in 
Lexington,  Ky.,  I  being  in  the  lot  at  the  time.  My  faithful  old  negro,  Elijah, 
even  at  this  distant  day,  feels  proud  to  tell  that  he  was  the  first  one  who  ever 
saw  Mambrino  Patchen.  I  always  made  it  a  rule  to  make  some  one  sit  up 
at  night  with  valuable  mares  to  watch  their  foaling,  and  old  Elijah  being 
reliable  and  experienced,  was  the  one  selected  to  take  charge  of  such  cases^ 
It  was  my  custom  to  promise  him  a  present  providing  he  saw  a  mare  foaling, 
and  let  me  know  before  she  got  through,  and  this  he  invariably  did.  At  a 
yearling,  I  sold  Mambrino  Patchen  for  f  1,500,  which  was  a  big  price  to  me, 
under  the  then  existing  circumstances,  and  more  than  any  other  trotting  colt 
of  that  age  had  ever  sold  for  in  this  country.  The  purchaser  was  Mr.  John 
K.  Alexander,  of  Illinois.  As  soon  as  I  closed  the  sale  of  Mambrino  Pilot 
with  C.  P.  Relf,  of  Norristown,  Pennsylvania,  I  immediately  took  the  cars 
resolved  to  buy  back  at  any  cost  Mambrino  Patchen,  and  this  I  succeeded  in 
doing,  he  being  at  the  time  two  years  old.  When  he  was  three  years  old  I 
allowed  him  to  serve  a  few  mares.  It  was  then  war  times,  and  the  mares  were 
scattered  and  some  lost  sight  of,  so  that  as  regards  number  of  colts,  hi» 
first  season  did  not  appear  to  be  much  in  his  favor.  Still,  a  few  of  the  mares 
foaled  in  the  vicinity,  the  balance  being  as  stated,  scattered  during  the  war,  etc. 
The  price  of  service,  during  the  first  season,  was  twenty-five  dollars  to  insure. 
I  have  kept  him  for  service  in  the  stud  from  then  until  the  present  time, 
raising  tlie  price  in  proportion  to  the  extent  to  which  his  colts  have  shown 
speed  and  quality.  He  is,  and  has  been,  for  three  years,  standing  at  two 
hundred  dollars  to  insure. 

At  three  years  old  I  broke  and  gentled  him  to  harness,  and  have  aimed 
to  drive  him  seven  or  eight  times  every  fall  since,  merely  to  let  him  know 
that  he  was  broke,  etc.  Last  fall,  1875,  after  an  interval  of  nearly  three  j^ears, 
in  which  he  was  not  harnessed,  I  hitched  him  up  and  drove  him  about  seven 
times,  the  third  time,  still  fat  and  untrained,  my  son  held  the  first  watch  on 
him  for  one-fourth  of  a  mile,  which  he  jogged  in  forty  seconds. 

Mambrino  Patchen  is  a  black  horse,  full  sixteen  hands  high,  the  only 
white  shown  by  him  being  the  grey  hind  leg — steel  grey  to  the  hock — a 
certilicate  granted  by  old  Mambrino  Chief  to  a  large  part  of  his 
descendants,  more  particularly  his  sons,  and  which  is  also  worn  by  his 
grandsons,  not  a  few — a  badge  of  honor,  and  a  certificate  of  member- 


■'"M 


i^ 


BABY   TROTTERS.  45B: 

ship  in  a  family  of  roj-al  lines.  Mambrino  Patchen  is  a  strong'  but 
very  finely  formed  horse,  in  every  part.  He  has  a  large  head  as  any 
horse  of  his  size  should  have,  but  not  a  coarse  one.  There  is  not 
a  coarse  or  homely  point  about  him.  He  has  a  proud  carriage,  a 
splendid  form,  fine  crest,  clean  in  the  throat,  a  set  of  limbs  and  hocks- 
equal  to  the  best;  mane  and  tail  full  and  long,  and  the  latter  always 
carried  at  such  an  elevation  as  to  attract  attention  as  a  family  mark^ 
No  man  ever  saw  a  son  or  daughter  of  Mambrino  Patchen  that  did- 
not  carry  the  tail  at  a  handsome  elevation.  Rival  owners  (the  best 
horse  in  the  world  always  has  his  rivals)  often  insinuated  that  artificial 
means  were  employed  to  set  the  tails  up  for  display.  But  the 
family  have  it,  and  what  comes  by  nature  leaves  no  room  for  art — and 
never  a  family  carried  a  banner  more  handsomely. 

The  trotting  quality  of  the  family  of  Mambrino  Chief  seems  to  have 
culminated  in  this  son  and  in  his  produce.  His  colts  seem  to  be- 
trotters  from  the  day  of  their  birth.  I  have  seen  young^  things  at  the 
side  of  their  mothers  that  showed  the  highest  degree  of  trotting- 
quality  ever  seen  in  any  ages. 

The  colt  exhibitions  at  Forest  Park  mark  an  epoch  in  horse  breeding 
in  the  United  States  which  has  given  type  and  character  to  the 
business  of  raising  trotters,  not  only  in  the  Blue  Grass  region  of  Ken- 
tucky but  throughout  the  Union. 

The  "  Baby  Trotters,"  as  they  have  been  tenned,  were  a  race  and  a 
rank  worthy  of  a  special  cognomen.  It  may  be  taken  as  a  fact 
beyond  doubt  or  dispute,  that  in  the  early  display  of  trotting  excel- 
lence, even  in  the  most  infantile  periods  of  colthood,  the  progeny  of 
Mambrino  Patchen  surpassed  any  stallion  we  have  yet  seen.  The 
Hurst  filly,  while  a  sucking  foal  by  its  mother's  side,  was  led  and' 
trotted  a  half  mile  at  the  rate  of  3:40.  The  full  sister  of  Lady  Stout 
showed  nearly  the  same.  It  is  claimed  that  they  were  only  trotters 
in  babyhood — that  they  did  not  hold  out  when  they  came  to  full  age- 
— that  is,  that  while  they  were  greatly  distinguished  in  their  very 
babyhood,  they  were  not  equally  distinguished  when  full  grown  and 
in  later  years.  That  was  in  reality  true,  but  it  came  from  causes  not 
heretofore  explained  and  not  from  any  peculiarities  of  the  sire.  Their 
earliness  came  from  the  sire,  their  retrograde  when  aged  came  from 
other  sources,  of  which  the  sire  had  a  i^art. 

It  was  the  fortune  of  Mambrino  Patchen  to  be  composed  of  ele- 
ments which  made  him  an  effective  or  rather  an  impressive  sire  in  the- 
matter  of  trotting  quality  with  thoroughbred   and  highly  bred  mares- 


454  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

"With  such,  precocity  in  their  ofFs]iriiio-  is  a  trait  of  character.  His  colts 
from  such  mares  all  came  trotters  at  birth,  and  in  colthood  they  excelled, 
but  the  more  deeply-rooted  blood  qualities  of  Diomed  and  the  racing 
thoroughbred  eventually  asserted  their  sway,  and  when  the  horse  came 
-to  full  age,  and  liis  form  and  capacity  called  for  a  higher  degree  of 
speed,  his  galloping  instincts  asserted  their  predominance,  and  he  in 
great  degree  ceased  to  be  a  trotter. 

Such,  I  have  no  doubt,  was  the  real  philosophy  of  this  apparent 
phenomenon,  Mambrino  Patchen  had  large  elements  of  Diomed 
'blood — he  had  other  elements  of  racing  blood.  He  had,  withal,  power- 
ful trotting  instinct  and  he  implanted  it  very  clearly,  but  the  galloping 
instinct  of  the  racer,  and  particularly  those  coming  through  Diomed, 
finally  came  out  ahead. 

His  trotters,  whose  trotting  character  seemed  to  be  limited  to  baby- 
hood, were  those  bred  from  mares  of  strong  racing  composition. 
It  was  not  thus  with  those  whose  trotting  quality  was  reinforced  in 
the  blood  or  habits  of  the  dams.  Take  his  colts  from  such  mares  as 
the  dam  of  Mambrino  Kate,  Mambrino  Boy,  Lad}^  Patchen  and  The 
•Jewess,  and  they  showed  no  inclination  to  stop  on  the  confines  of 
■colthood.  Lady  Stout  came  from  a  highly  bred  mare  that  was  not 
thoroughbred,  yet  she  had  so  much  of  that  blood  that  her  case 
proves  the  principle  I  have  here  laid  down.  She  may  be  a  trotter 
which  will  continue  to  full  age  and  improve  and  last  like  Kate  and 
like  Lady  Thorn,  but  I  think  it  doubtful,  and  she  has  several  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  the}'  prove  the  correctness  of  what  I  say  of  such  lines 
■of  blood.  Stallions  that  are  strong  in  racing  blood,  and  particularly 
•that  of  Diomed,  will  not  make  trotting  sires. 

The   brothers  of  Lady  Stout  will  not,  but  I  should  prize  a  brother 

of  Mambrino  Kate,  and  this  illustrates  Mambrino   Patchen   as   a  sire 

perfectly.     His  produce  from  these  high  bred  mares  are  so  blood-like 

and  attractive,  and  so  promising  in  early  colthood,  as  to  induce  many 

to  send  him  such   mares  and   to  purchase   colts  thus  bred,  and  their 

■disap})ointment  leads  them  afterward   to   condemn  the  sire  as  a  failure 

and  a  deception.     Whereas   the  error  was  in  just  this,   that  he   did 

Avhat  no  other  stallion  in  the  world  could  have  done,    he  showed  great 

■quality  and  early  promise  in  his  jiroduce  from  a  class  of  mares  which 

])()ssessed   no   sort  of  adaptation  to  the  purposes  of  the  trotting  gait. 

His  real   greatness,   however,  as  a  sire,  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the 

failure  of  the  produce  of  such  mares.     He  has  shown  his  qualities  in 

".the  produce  of  others  and  of  all  classes  in  such   immense   numbers, 


A   SUCCESSFUL   STALLION.  455 

and  with  such  a  display  of  superiority,  as  to  stamp  him  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  stallions  this  country  has  ever  seen.  For  highly 
bred  produce,  those  that  trot  with  smooth  easy  gait,  and  show  early 
■excellence,  making  time  between  2:40  and  three  minutes,  he  surpasses 
any  stallion  this  country  has  ever  produced.  He  is  without  a  rival  or 
a  peer  in  the  limits  indicated.  He  has  not  produced  those  with 
records  as  fast  as  some  others,  but  the  great  number  he  has  shown 
as  possessing  very  high  quality  and  within  the  range  of  speed  indi- 
cated, surpasses  any  stallion  we  have  yet  seen. 

But  it  must  not  be  inferred  from  this,  that  Marabrino  Patchen 
stops  here,  by  any  means.  He  will  yet  show  a  formidable  list  coming 
from  mares  in  which  the  trotting  forces  were  reinforced,  and  from 
such  he  will  yet  show  a  roll  that  will  give  him  a  name  and  place 
among  the  great  trotting  stallions  of  this  country.  Let  me  be  clearly 
understood,  when  I  say  that  in  his  own  composition  he  has  all  the. 
Dionied  or  racinsf  elements  that  are  admissible  in  a  trottina:  familv,  and 
that  he  will  add  no  lustre  to  his  name  in  any  case  where  these  are  rein- 
forced, but  that  he  has  such  elements  of  a  great  trotting  stallion  as  will 
•enable  him  to  take  a  rank  among  the  highest,  whenever  he  can  reach  a 
<jlass  of  mares  in  which  the  true  trotting  blood  of  Messenger  is  present- 
ed. He  has  already  a  splendid  list.  Although  a  very  large  number  of 
his  best  bred  colts  are  young,  and  only  ready  to  enter  appearance  on 
the  public  courses,  he  has  to  his  credit  Mambrino  Kate,  dam  by 
State  of  Maine,  record  of  2:244,  and  six  heats  in. 2:30  or  better;  The 
Jewess,  2:26,  and  nine  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Mambrino  Boy,  dam 
by  Strader's  C  M.  Clay  Jr.,  2:26.j,  and  three  heats;  Lady  Stout,  dam 
"by  Mark  Time,  highly  bred  in  raping  blood,  2:29,  when  three  years 
old;  and  George,  2:29f. 

One  of  the  traits  of  kinship  to  Lady  Thorn,  shown  by  all  the 
progeny  of  Mambrino  Patchen,  is  their  ability  to  hold  out  in  a  race. 
■George  won  a  seventh  heat  in  2:32;  Glendale,  a  grandson,  trotted  a 
sixth  heat  in  the  mud  in  2:32;  Girl  E.  Queen,  as  a  three  year  old,  in 
fourth  heat,  trotted  in  2:33^. 

I  append  a  list  cut  from  a  sheet  prepared  by  the  owner  of  a  son  of 
this  stallion,  which  I  assume  to  be  substantialh'  correct,  and  which 
will  show  that  Mambrino  Patchen  has  a  progeny  which  already  testify 
to  his  merits  as  a  sire;  and  will  further  give  abvmdant  proof  that  the 
;great  power  of  Mambrino  Chief  in  imparting  the  trotting  quality  is 
also  being  transmitted  by  Mambrino  Patchen  to  his  own  sons. 


45(5  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO   CiriEF. 

MAMBRINO    PATCIIEN's   LIST. 

Record.  Ri.cord^ 

Mamhrino  Kate 2 :  241^  Elmwood 2 :  33 

The  Jewess 2 : 26  Darlby 2 :40 

Mambrino  Boy 2 :  26%  Lady  Patclien,  (3  year) 2 :  36}^ 

Lady  Stout,  (8  year) 2 :  29  Belle  Patcben  (2  year) 2-Al}4 

George 3:29j^  Rothschilds,  (3  year) 2: 413^ 

Girl  E.  Queen,  (3  year)  in  4th  Kate  Patchen,  (3  year) 2:45 

heat 2 :  3314  Paddy ". 2 :  49^ 

Trials.  Trials. 

Paddy 2 :  28  Lady  Stout 2 :  20 

Elmwood 2  :  28  Mambrino  Bertie 2 :  19 

Girl  E.  Queen 2:23  Tillie  Thorn,  (1  year) 2:53 

GRAND    COLTS    OF    MAMBRINO    PATOHEX. 

Record.  Record. 

Lida  Bassett 2 :  25        Glendale 2 :  271.f 

I  should  not  close  this  sketch  without  adverting-  to  the  soundness 
of  his  stock,  and  their  entire  exemption  from  all  trace  of  infirmity. 
While  he  has  two  crosses  of  Diomed  blood,  he  has  other  lines  of  such 
healthfulness  as  to  overcome  all  traces  of  infirm  tendencies  in  that 
blood.  He  is  a  great  stallion,  and  justly  deserves  the  first  place  on 
the  roll  of  Mambrino  Chief,  for  his  great  display  of  combined  excel- 
lences. 

MAMBRINO    PILOT. 

This  distinoruished  son  of  Mambrino  Chief  was  bred  bv  Thomas 
Hook,  of  Scott  county,  Kentucky,  and  was  foaled  in  1859.  He  wa& 
sold  the  spring  he  was  coming  three  years  old,  to  Dr.  1..  Herr,  for 
$500.  After  training  him  lightly  and  using  him  for  public  service  for 
tAvo  seasons,  Dr.  Heir  sold  him  to  H.  H.  Harrison,  Lyons,  Iowa,  for 
$10,000  cash.  Afterward  Dr.  Herr  repurchased  him  for  112,000,  paya- 
ble in  money  and  stock,  and  after  receiving  about  one  hundred  mares 
at  |)50  each  (a  high  price  then  in  Kentucky),  and  training  him  slightly, 
he  sold  him  to  C.  P.  Relf,  of  Norristown,  Pennsylvania,  for  a  large 
price.  His  popularity  at  this  time  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  during 
the  same  season,  after  he  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Relf,  he  received  fully 
one  hundred  mares,  and  during  the  same  fall  thereafter  he  trotted  a 
mile  at  Philadelphia,  under  saddle,  in  3:27  and  a  fraction. 

Mambrino  Pilot  is  a  brown  stallion,  full  sixteen  hands  high.  The 
breeding  of  his  dam  furnishes  another  instructive  lesson  regarding 
the  qualities  of  Mambrino  Chief  as  a  sire,   and  the  class  of  mares- 


MAMBRINO   PILOT.  457 

with  which  he  would  have  yielded  the  richest  results.  This  mare  was 
a  grey  mare,  Juliet,  by  Pilot  Jr.,  her  dam  by  Webster,  a  thorough- 
bred son  of  Medoc,  and  her  grandam  by  Whip. 

Pilot  Jr.,  as  will  be  shown  more  fully  in  Chapter  XXV,  was  by 
Pilot  the  Pacer,  from  a  mare  with  t-svo  thoroughbred  crosses.  Medoc 
was  a  son  of  American  Eclipse — another  Duroc-Messenger — and  all 
Medoc  mares  have  been  good  breeders  of  trotters.  No  blood  in  the 
dam  of  a  trotter  or  trotting  stallion  has  yet  equaled  the  Duroc-Mes- 
senger when  in  proper  relation.  This  should  be  accepted  as  the  first 
maxim  in  the  science  of  American  breeding,  and  one  of  wide  appli- 
cation and  supported  by  overwhelming  proofs. 

Juliet  produced  her  great  son  when  she  was  four  years  old,  as  did 
also  the  dam  of  Volunteer.  Her  own  breeding  made  her  a  superior 
mare.  Her  blood  composition  was  one  that  would  afford  consanguin- 
ity for  that  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  at  the  same  time  the  elements  of 
racing  blood  it  contained  were  completely  neutralized  by  the  road 
and  trotting  elements  of  Pilot  and  the  various  part-bred  roadsters 
through  which  she  was  descended.  The  success  of  Mambrino  Pilot 
as  a  stallion  affords  further  proof  that  both  he  and  Mambrino  Chief 
required  a  certain  degree  of  consanguinity  in  the  mares  they  received 
in  order  that  their  own  qualities  should  properly  be  reproduced.  His 
great  son,  MAiiBRiNO  Gift,  of  all  others  the  nearest  like  himself,  was 
from  the  noted  mare  Water  Witch,  by  Pilot  Jr.,  her  dam  by  a  son  of 
St.  Lawrence,  and  grandam  a  highly  bred  mare  by  Oliver,  a  son  of 
Wagner. 

Mambrino  Gift  was  one  of  the  great  trotting  stallions,  and  competed 
for  the  championship  with  Smuggler,  Thomas  .Jefferson,  Phil  Sheridan, 
H.  W.  Genet,  and  other  great  stallions.  He  had  a  record  of  2:20^ 
and  seventeen  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  He  made  in  one  race  2:21, 
2:20,  2:23,  which  at  that  time  were  the  three  fastest  heats  ever  made 
by  a  stallion. 

Mambrino  Gift  died  in  1877,  a  great  loss  to  his  owners  and  the 
breeding  interest.  As  he  was  a  stallion  of  great  value  as  a  breeder, 
and  his  produce  may  yet  occupy  conspicuous  positions,  I  append 
hereto  the  following  notice,  published  in  the  Live-Stock  Journal  soon, 
after  his  death : 

Mambrino  Gift,  the  first  stallion  that  ever  trotted  in  2 :20,  and  who,  for 
several  years,  divided  the  honors  with  Smuggler,  for  best  stallion  record,  died 
Sept.  1st,  of  spasmodic  colic.  He  was  a  beautiful  liorse,  full  16  liands  in 
height,  rangy  and  stylish,  with  powerful  quarters,  but  rather  light  in  tlie  girth 
and  flank.     In  color  he  was  of  the  darkest,  richest  cliestnut,  witliout  a  white 


458  DESCENDANTS  OF   MAMBRIIJO   CHIEF. 

bair,  as  we  remember  him.  He  was  bred  by  E.  P.  Kinkead,  of  "Woodfcml 
county,  Ky.,  got  by  Relf's  Mambrino  Pilot,  out  of  a  mare  by  Pilot  Jr..  2d 
dam  by  Kinkead's  St.  Lawrence,  3d  dam  said  to  be  a  thoroughbred,  but  her 
pedigree  has  been  lost.  He  was  foaled  in  18GG,  and  commenced  his  txottiag 
lessons  when  only  two  years  old,  under  the  tutelage  of  Dr.  Herr.  Messrs. 
Nye  &  Foster,  of  Flint,  Mich.,  purchased  him  in  1873;  and  during  that  season 
he  started  in  eight  races — seven  of  which  he  won — and  made  a  record  of 
2:2614^.  But  it  was  in  his  next  season  that  he  so  greatly  distinguished  him- 
self  After  having  served  twenty-five  mares  he  was  put  in  training;  and  in 
the  Michigan  Circuit,  early  in  the  campaign,  he  did  battle  with  St.  James, 
Huntress,  and  the  then  invincible  Red  Cloud,  at  Jackson  and  Saginaw.  July 
30th,  he  trotted  at  Cleveland,  winning  the  third  heat,  but  losing  the  race  to 
Fred  Hooper.  On  the  following  week  he  was  engaged  in  the  great  stallion 
race,  for  a  purse  of  $10,000,  in  which  he  contended  with  Smuggler,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  Joe  Brown,  and  Pilot  Temple.  This  race  was  graphically  described 
in  the  Journal  of  Sept.,  1874,  and  remains  to  this  day  the  most  exciting  stal- 
lion race  ever  trotted.  The  first  two  heats  were  won  by  Smuggler,  in  2:23^, 
3:20^;  the  next  by  Mambrino  Gift,  in  3:33i4,  and  the  remaining  three  by 
Thos.  Jeflerson,  in  2  -.28}^,  2 :2G>^,  2  -.2814.  It  was  a  race  "  for  blood,"  and  was 
fought  between  Thos.  Jefferson  and  Gift  to  the  very  end  of  the  last  heat.  On 
the  week  following,  at  Rochester,  he  trotted  his  greatest  race,  in  .which  he  beat 
Tanner  Boy,  Joe  Brown,  Joker,  Fred  Hooper  and  Barney  Kelly,  in  three 
straight  heats,  in  2 :21,  2  -.20,  2 :23,  the  fastest  time  ever  made  by  a  stallion  up 
to  that  date,  and  which  has  since  been  beaten  by  two  stallions  only,  and  one 
of  them  a  son  of  the  same  sire.  Later,  in  the  same  campaign,  he  contended 
for  the  championship  in  the  stallion  race  at  Mystic  Park,  but  got  no  better 
than  fifth  place.  It  was  claimed  that  he  had  been  drugged  prior  to  the  race; 
but,  however  that  may  be,  he  was  clearly  "off","  and  could  not  trot  on  that 
day.  The  race  was  won  by  Smuggler,  in  2 :23,  2 :33,  2 :20,  which  placed  him 
equal  to  Gift  in  the  record;  and  this  figure,  2:20,  continued  to  be  the  best 
stallion  record  until,  at  Cleveland,  in  1876,  it  was  lowered  by  Smuggler  to 
2 :163^,  and  five  weeks  later,  at  Hartford,  to  2 :153^,  the  present  best  stallion 
record. 

The  most  successful  trotter  that  has  appeared  on  our  trotting  courses 
is  the  chesnut  stallion,  Hannis.  I  have  not  the  means  of  giving  the 
pedigree  of  his  dam.  He  is  by  Mambrino  Pilot,  and  was  kept  in  the 
dark  until  he  was  about  nine  years  old.  During  his  first  season  he 
made  a  record  of  2:19f,  and  twenty-three  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  He 
is  a  small  horse.  Mambrino  Pilot  has  also  to  his  credit  Morning,  with 
record  and  four  heats  in  2:30. 

His  family  are  generally  large  and  powerful  horses,  not  very  fine 
and  rather  slender  about  the  waist — a  mark  that  mars  their  otherwise 
great  excellence. 

He  is  the  sire  of  CALinAN,  a  good  stallion  of  excellent  form  and 
quality.     His  dam  was  by  Strader's  Cassius  M.  Clay,  residue  of  the 


MRS.  caudle's  family.  4:59 

pedigree  thoroughbred,  or  mainly  so.  He  is  owned  by  Capt.  M.  M. 
Clay,  of  Paris,  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky,  and  has  to  his  credit 
Coaster,  with  record  of  2:263-.  Caliban  has  shown  good  trotting 
quality  himself. 

Mambrino  Pilot  has  another  son,  Mambrino  Messenger,  that  has- 
to  his  credit  Lewinski,  with  record  of  2:25^^,  and  eighteen  heats  in 
2:30.     I  am  not  able  to  give  further  particulars  relating  to  this  son. 

ERICSSON,    CLARK    CHIEF    AND    MCDONALD's    MAMBRINO. 

Entitled  to  a  front  rank  and  in  some  respects  the  highest  consider- 
ation among  the  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief,  should  stand  Ericsson  the 
son,  and  Clark  Chief  the  grandson  of  the  mare  Mrs.  Caudle,  whose 
pedigree  can  not  be  given,  but  whose  blood  qualities  are  clearly  shown 
in  the  produce  of  these  two  great  stallions.  Whatever  may  have 
been  her  origin,  she  lacked  only  one  element  to  make  her  the  best 
mare  ever  sent  to  the  old  Chief,  and  one  of  the  greatest  this  country 
has  ever  known. 

The  ascertained  facts  regarding  her  histoiy  are  well  known  to  a  few 
persons,  but  they  are  so  short  of  range  as  to  leave  us  without  any 
specific  light  regarding  her  blood  qualities  except  as  they  are  dis- 
closed in  her  descendants. 

The  mare  was  well  known  to  Mr.  Ambrose  Stevens  and  many  of 
the  older  residents  in  and  about  New  York.  She  was  purchased  in 
that  city  about  the  year  1840  and  sent  to  Georgia.  She  was  a  well 
known  and  superior  road  mare,  and  was  considered  equal  to  2:40  and 
better.  After  passing  the  hands  of  several  parties  at  Savannah  and 
Macon,  Georgia,  she  was  sent  to  Kentucky  to  be  bred  to  a  trotting 
stallion. 

She  was  afterward  the  property  of  Mr.  Enoch  Lewis,  well  known 
in  the  vicinity  of  Lexington,  and  died  there  after  raising  several  foals, 
one  of  which  was  called  Little  Nora,  another  was  called  Big  Nora, 
both  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger.  Little  Nora  became  the  dam  of 
Clark  Chief,  and  Big  Nora  became  the  dam  of  McDonald's  Mambrino. 
She  also  raised  a  son  and  a  daughter  by  Mambrino  Chief — Ericsson 
and  the  big  mare  called  Nocomis,  and  afterward  Psyche,  foaled  in 
1861. 

Ericsson,  the  son  of  Mrs.  Caudle  and  Mambrino  Chief,  was  foaled  in 
1856,  and  was  a  very  large  horse,  the  largest  trotting  sire  ever  seen  in 
this  country.  He  was  an  overgrown  prodigy.  His  head,  while  it  was 
not  really  one  of  homely  form,  was  the   longest  and   biggest   head  I 


460  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBKINO   CHIEF. 

ever  saw  on  a  horse  with  any  pretensions  to  breeding.  He  was  always 
-esteemed  too  large  and  gross  in  every  particular,  but  for  all  that  he 
was  one  of  the  most  perfect  natural  trotters  ever  seen.  In  the  later 
years  of  his  life  he  was  often  exhibited  at  speed  by  the  bridle  along- 
side of  another  horse  ridden  in  a  gallop,  and  it  was  a  sight  worth 
beholding  to  see  such  trotting  action,  so  perfect  and  true  yet  powerful 
in  a  horse  which  seemed  only  a  little  less  than  an  elephant.  He  made 
his  first  appearance  before  the  public  when  four  years  old,  under  the 
name  of  Morgan  Chief,  and  trotted  against  the  stallion  Idol,  by  Mam- 
brino  Chief.  Idol  was  from  a  thoroughbred  mare  by  American  Eclipse 
and  a  horse  of  superior  quality  and  form,  but  Ericsson  won  in  three 
straight  heats,  in  2:49,  2:41,  2:38f.  He  was  a  natural  trotter,  and  his 
action  was  so  perfect,  so  faultless  as  to  create  the  belief,  which  had 
good  foundation,  that  he  was  a  trotting  stallion  possessed  of  the  most 
valuable  qualities,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  was  grown  upon 
the  scale  of  a  draft  horse  rather  than  a  roadster.  It  is  stated  that 
prior  to  this  race  he  had  made  a  private  trial  to  wagon  in  2:36. 
This  race  was  in  May,  1860. 

In  October  of  the  same  year  he  was  matched  against  Kentucky 
Chief,  owned  by  A.  H.  Brand,  a  near  neighbor  of  Mr.  Enoch  Lewis, 
the  owner  of  Ericsson,  and  trotted  a  race  of  four  heats,  Kentucky 
Chief  taking  the  first  in  2:39|^,  and  Ericsson  the  ensuing  three  heats 
and  the  race  in  2:34^,  2:30^,  2:32.  He  was  soon  after  bought  by 
Hon.  K.  C.  Barker,  late  of  Detroit,  and  was  used  as  a  breeding  stal- 
lion until  his  death,  which  occurred  recently.  He  was  a  valuable 
breeder,  and  the  influence  of  his  blood  will  be  seen  in  the  trotters  of 
this  country  for  many  years  yet  to  come.  He  has  to  his  credit  Doble, 
a  stallion,  2:28,  and  four  heats  in  2:30 — one  of  the  fastest  two- 
year-olds  that  ever  appeared  in  Kentucky;  Belle,  2:28^^;  Eric,  at  four 
years  old,  2:28^;  and  Nightingale,  2:29f. 

The  produce  of  Ericsson  all  show  a  thigh  proportionately  shorter 
than  the  usual  Mambrino  measure,  but  a  greater  length  from  the 
hip  to  the  hock  than  those  of  any  other  branch  of  the  family.  They 
are  noted  as  trotting  with  a  gait  very  nearly  such  as  I  have  described 
among  the  Royal  Georges — a  very  long  reach  of  the  hind  foot,  but 
not  such  wide  spreading  action  behind. 

Clark  Chief  was  bred  and  owned  by  John  Marders  of  Clark  county, 
Kentucky,  and  was  from  Little  Nora,  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger; 
grandam  Mrs.  Candle,  the  dam  of  Ericsson.  He  was  a  bay  stallion, 
not  so  dark  as  Ericsson,  and  not  so  large.     His  produce  show  the 


CLARK   CHIEF.  461 

effect  of  the  additional  Messenger  strains,  in  a  slight  reduction  of  the 
Tear  leverage,  but  they  yet  retain  a  great  similarity  to  the  progeny  of 
Ericsson.  He  died  in  the  winter  of  1871  and  1872,  before  his  produce 
and  merits  as  a  sire  were  known,  and  before  correct  ideas  of  the  real 
composition  of  the  family  and  blood  of  Mambrino  Chief  prevailed  to 
any  great  extent,  hence  his  success  in  the  stud  was  thereby  limited. 
Had  he  lived  until  this  time,  it  is  my  opinion  that  he  would  have 
stood  as  the  first  stallion  of  the  family,  and  that  in  such  cases  as  he 
could  have  secured  mares  by  Almont,  Administrator,  Mambrino 
Patchen,  and  other  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  thus  united  with  other 
Duroc  strains,  he  would  have  exhibited  a  degree  of  excellence  not 
possessed  by  any  son  of  the  great  sire.  Mrs.  Caudle  had  no  element 
of  Duroc  blood  in  her  composition,  and  it  constituted  her  only  defi- 
-ciency.  A  remote  cross  of  that  blood  would  have  made  her  a  breed- 
ing mare  of  marked  superiority. 

Clark  Chief  has  to  his  credit  for  the  short  period  that  he  survived, 
Woodford  Chief,  at  five  years  old  with  a  record  of  2:22^,  and  ten 
heats  in  2:30  or  better;  .John  E.,  2:28f ;  Governor,  2:30;  and  Lady 
Prewett,  2:30.  He  is  also  the  sire  of  the  stallion  Kentucky  Prince, 
lately  owned  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Darling,  and  recently  sold  to  Charles 
Backman  of  the  Stony  Ford  Stud.  His  dam  is  by  Morgan^  Eagle, 
a  very  good  combination  of  blood,  but  would  have  been  better  if  the 
order  of  breeding  had  been  reversed — the  Morgan  blood  in  the  sire, 
and  that  of  Mambrino  Chief  in  the  dam.  He  will  doubtless  be  a 
successful  breeder.  He  is  regarded  as  a  horse  of  good  form,  and  has 
shown  good  qualities  of  gait  and  speed.     Woodford  Chief  is  recently 

dead. 

Mcdonald's  mambrusto. 

This  horse  was  from  Big  Nora,  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger, 
•grandam  Mrs.  Caudle.  His  dam  being  full  sister  to  Little  Nora, 
the  dam  of  Clark  Chief,  he  would  of  course  resemble  that  horse  very 
much;  but  full  brothers  are  not  exactly  alike.  How  far  these  two 
differ  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  I  have  only  met  with  two  of  his 
descendants.  They  each  gave  testimony  to  the  peculiar  anatomy 
inherited  from  Mrs.  Caudle.  One  of  these  was  a  brown  mare  by 
McDonald's  Mambrino.  She  had  a  thigh  24  inches,  and  was  41  inches 
in  length  from  hip  to  hock. 

Brownwood,  a  son  of  Blackwood,  now  owned  at  Beloit,  Wiscon- 
:sin,  dam  by  McDonald's  Mambrino,  is  41  inches  from  hip  to  hock, 
■while  his  sire,  Blackwood,  is  only  39  inches. 


462  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBRINO   CHIEF. 

In  1876  I  saw  in  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  Strader,  at  Lexington,  av 
brown  colt,  three  years  old,  by  Ericsson,  dam  by  Pilot  .Jr.  His  thigb 
was  24^,  and  he  was  41^  inches  from  hip  to  hock.  A  bay  gelding  at 
the  same  place,  then  four  years  old,  by  Ericsson,  was  41  and  24. 

Hattie  Fitch,  a  grey  mare,  owned  by  Gen.  Withers,  by  Williams*' 
Mambrino,  a  son  of  Ericsson,  was  24  inches  in  length  of  thigh,  and  41 
inches  from  hip  to  hock.  This  measure  of  41  inches  ran  through  the 
descendants  of  Mrs.  Caudle  with  great  uniformity. 

This  peculiarity  marks  all  the  descendants  of  Mrs.  Caudle,  and  it 
constitutes  a  fact  worthy  of  careful  consideration.  I  find  that  the 
stock  has  been  advancing  in  popular  estimate  in  Kentucky  for  the 
past  four  years.  I  have  no  doubt  that  her  impress  will  be  seen  for  a 
long  time  in  the  future  trotters  bred  from  the  Kentucky  stock  of  the 
present  day. 

To  recur  a^ain  to  the  mare  Mrs.  Caudle.  I  am  informed  bv  one 
who  knew  her  well  that  she  had  much  of  the  form  of  the  trotting 
mare  Flora  Belle,  by  Uwharie;  had  long  and  powerful  quarters,  but  a 
head  and  other  points  that  indicated  the  strongest  concentration  of 
the  blood  and  qualities  of  Messenger.  She  was  reported  to  have 
come  from  Duchess  county,  New  York.  She  had  strong  elements  of 
Messenger  in  her  composition,  and  if  she  came  from  Duchess  county,. 
it  is  not  improbable  that  she  was  a  daughter  of  imported  Bellfounder^ 
His  stay  in  Duchess  county  would  comport  as  to  date  with  the  proba- 
ble period  of  her  origin.  Still  further,  she  may  have  descended  from 
some  of  those  long  and  powerful  quartered  Canadians,  crossed  on  the 
Messenger  mares,  that  were  numerous  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  from  Long  Island  to  the  St.  Lawrence  river.  The 
blood  qualities  above  indicated  were  those  which  her  descendants  dis- 
play, and  which  her  own  history  renders  probable.  This  length  of  41 
inches  from  hip  to  hock  in  her  descendants,  so  much  like  the  41  of 
Hambletonian,  and  the  trotters  descended  from  Harry  Clay  mares,, 
and  so  rarely  found  elsewhere,  is  strongly  suggestive  of  Bellfounder. 

With  all  my  study  of  the  horses  of  America  I  can  not  place  this 
long  measure  of  41  inches  as  belonging  outside  of  any  family  not 
descended  from  Bellfounder.  If  I  am  told  that  it  may  in  Mrs.  Caudle 
have  been  exceptional,  just  as  it  was  with  Lady  Thorn,  I  admit  the 
fact,  but  this  other  fact  must  also  be  noted  that  exceptional  conforma- 
tions or  peculiarities  are  not  transmitted  except  in  slight  degree,  or  by 
approximation,  and  with  no  sort  of  imiformity.  In  the  case  of  the 
descendants  of  Mrs.  Caudle,  whether  coming  through  Ericsson,  or  her 


OTHER   SONS.  463 

two  daug-hters  Big  Nora  and  Little  Nora,  and  the  respective  sons  of 
each,  Williams'  Mambrino,  McDonald's  Mamljrino  and  Clark  Chief, 
the  peculiarity  holds  with  great  uniformity.  I  have  not  seen  Doble 
since  he  was  two  years  old,  and  never  inspected  him  in  reference  to 
the  matter. 

But  as  the  female  descendants  of  Bellfounder  have  culminated  in 
valvie  for  breeding  jDurposes,  in  the  daughters  of  Sayer's  Harry  Clay, 
so  likewise,  in  my  opinion,  the  creme  cle  la  creme  of  all  the  female 
descendants  of  Mambrino  Chief  as  dams  of  great  trotters  will  be 
found  in  these  female  descendants  of  Mrs.  Caudle,  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  give  it  as  my  opinion  that  she  was  a  Bellfounder,  strong  in 
Messenger  blood. 

BAY    CHIEF. 

This  son  of  Mambrino  Chief  was  from  a  highly  bred  mare  by  Keo- 
kuk, grandara  by  Stamboul,  an  Arabian.  He  had  a  white  face,  and 
hence  was  often  called  Bald  Chief.  He  was  a  very  fast  horse  as  a 
four-year-old,  and  trotted  a  half  mile  in  1:08.  He  was  bred  and 
owned  by  R.  A.  Alexander,  and  was  killed  by  guerillas  in  the  raid  on 
"Woodburn,  narrated  in  Cha^Dter  XII.  He  was  sire  of  Bald  Chief, 
dam  by  Commodore,  owned  by  George  C.  Stevens,  of  Milwaukee. 

NOKTH    STAR   MAMBRINO. 

This  stallion  is  a  horse  of  superior  form,  a  rich  bay  in  color,  strong 
and  muscular,  and  has  been  one  of  the  fastest  sons  of  Mambrino 
Chief.  He  has  a  record  of  2:26|-,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 
His  dam  was  by  Davy  Crockett,  the  pacer.  He  is  located  in  Duchess 
county.  New  York,  and  is  owned  hj  George  F.  Stevens,  Esq.,  the 
owner  of  the  stallion  Administrator. 

MAMBRINO    STAR. 

This  is  a  bay  horse,  foaled  in  1862,  dam  I^ady  Fairfield,  by  old 
Redbuck,  of  Indiana,  one  of  the  great  pacing  stallions  of  the  Cop- 
perbottom  family.  He  is  regarded  very  highly  in  the  vicinity  of 
Cincinnati.  He  is  owned  by  Mr.  Chas.  Leggatt,  of  Hamilton  county, 
Ohio.  He  has  a  record  of  2:284-,  and  he  is  the  sire  of  Cottage  Girl, 
2:29i. 

Fiske's  Mambrino  Chief  was  foaled  18G1.  His  dam  was  by  Bir- 
mingham, son  of  Stockholder,  son  of  Sir  Archy;  second  dam  by 
Bertrand,  son  of  Sir  Archy;  third  dam  by  Sumter,  son  of  Sir  Archy; 
and  fourth  dam  by  imported  Buzzard.  He  has  been  owned  in  Mich- 
igan, and  is  regarded  as  a  horse  of  excellent  qualities. 
30 


4G4  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBIIINO   CHIEF. 

A  statement  made  by  his  owner  shows  that  he  has  trotted  one  mile 
in  2:26  under  saddle — not  a  record — and  has  a  five-mile  record  of 
13:52.  He  won  two  races  in  2:30^  precisely.  He  has  a  saddle  record 
of  2:20.  He  has  to  his  credit,  Mambrino  General,  2:30,  and  a  full 
brother  called  General  Thomas — has  trotted  in  2:30.  Tliis  stallion  is,, 
beyond  doubt,  an  excellent  trotting  sire,  and  good  results  will  often 
be  seen  tracing  to  his  career. 

BANNER   CHIEF 

Was  a  bay  horse  bred  by  Jas.  B.  Clay.     His  dam  was   by  Downing's 
Bay    Messenger,    grandam   by  Hunt's  Brown  Highlander.     He  was 
owned  and   spent  most  of  his  life  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and  left 
.  some  highly  prized  stock. 

MAMBRINO    TEMPLAR    AND    BRIGAND 

Were  brothers,  and  were  large  bay  horses,  showing  the  Sir  Archy  t}^e 
in  their  composition  in  strong  degree.  They  were  bred  by  Dr.  Samuel 
H.  Chew,  of  Fayette  county,  Kentucky,  and  were  from  a  mare  called 
"  Beck}^,"  also  the  dam  of  Whip  Clay — she  was  by  Wardlaw's 
Shakspeare;  second  dam  by  Curd's  Kosciusko;  third  dam  by  Hephes- 
tion;  fourth  dam  by  Whip. 

These  stallions  were  grand  and  sweeping  trotters,  with  very  sloping 
shoulders,  and  from  their  breeding,  doubtless  much  like  Fiske's 
Mambrino  Chief.  Had  they  been  kept  at  the  right  place  and  in  the 
right  way  they  would  doubtless  have  been  regarded  as  very  superior 
stallions.  During  the  troublesome  days  attending  our  civil  war,  when 
such  property  was  in  great  hazard  in  Kentucky,  Dr.  Chew  ran  the  twa 
young  stallions  over  into  Indiana  in  the  charge  of  A.  M.  Payne,, 
a  young  man  who  overheated  and  injured  them,  causing  one  of  them, 
and  Derhaps  both,  to  be  thick-winded,  and  otherwise  unfavorably 
affecting  them. 

They  were  afterward  traded  for  other  stock.  Mambrino  Templar 
finally  passed  into  the  hands  of  M.  L.  Hare,  of  Indianapolis,  and  he 
remained  there  until  his  death,  not  long  since. 

Brigand  was  sold  to. the  Messrs.  Spears,  of  Tallula,  Illinois,  and  finally 
passed  through  the  hands  of  Emery  Cobb,  Esq.,  to  Charles  S.  Dole, 
Esq.,  and  is  now  owned  in  Wisconsin.  It  has  been  my  fortune  to 
own  daughters  of  each  of  these  stallions.  They  bred  mostly  chestnuts, 
with  fine  Sir  Archy  forms,  sloping  shoulders,  and  show  a  superior  way 
of  o-oing.  I  can  only  express  the  opinion,  that  if  properly  managed 
in  their  earlier  years,  they  would  have  proved  superior  stallions. 


OTHEE   SONS.  465 

ALCALDE. 

This  was  a  large  bay  stallion,  dam  by  Pilot  Jr.  He  has  the  credit 
of  Hylas;  dam  also  by  Pilot  Jr.,  2:24+,  and  six  heats  in  2:30  or  better; 
and  Enigma,  2:26,  and  three  heats  in  2:30. 

JOE     HOOKER, 

Another  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  one  of  many  excellent  crosses, 
was  very  much  in  appearance  like  the  old  Chief.  He  was  about  the 
same  size,  or  perhaps  hardly  as  large;  the  same  in  color,  and  had  the 
grey  hind  leg  in  perfection.  His  first  dam  was  by  Canadian  Chief; 
his  second  by  Kavanaugh ;  his  third  by  American  Eclipse;  and  had 
the  order  of  these  been  reversed,  I  should  have  selected  him  as  the 
best  bred  son  of  Mambrino  Chief.  The  starting  point,  Canada  Chief, 
a  son  of  Davy  Ciockett  the  pacer;  next  Kavanaugh,  a  race  horse,  I 
believe  by  Grey  Eagle;  and  lastly,  a  mare  by  American  Eclipse, 
from  such  a  dam  and  gran  dam,  would  have  furnished  a  mare  equal  in 
blood  qualities  to  any  that  Mambrino  Chief  received;  but  I  have 
observed  that  he  did  not  breed  a  reproducer  from  any  mare  near  or 
strong  in  the  blood  of  a  Canadian  or  pacer.  This  stallion,  however, 
has  one  good  one,  Maud  Macy,  2:27f. 

MAMBRUNELLO. 

This  stallion  was  one  of  those  selected  on  account  of  the  supposed 
excellence  of  his  blood,  his  dam  being  by  Hunt's  Commodore, 
grandam  by  Grey  Eagle,  etc.,  a  thoroughbred  mare.  He  was  not  one 
of  the  best  of  his  reproducers,  while  a  cross  of  Duroc  blood  in  the 
foreground  would  have  made  hini  a  success.  He  is  credited  with 
one  performer  with  a  good  record,  Tom  Britton,  2:26,  and  seven  heats 
in  2:30  or  better. 

Mambrino  Chief  also  produced  Kentucky  Chief  and  Brignoli, 
lately  called  Mambrino  Prince,  2:29f,  and  two  sons  that  contend  for 
the  name  and  honors  of  Ashland  Chief.  Another  called  Mambrino 
Chief  Jr.,  the  sire  of  Proctor,  with  record  of  2:23. 

Mambrino  Chief  left  several  sons  from  thoroughbred  mares,  which 
deserve  notice.  As  might  be  expected,  those  showing  in  themselves 
the  highest  degree  of  trotting  excellence  were  from  mares  by  Ameri- 
can Eclipse — a  Duroc-Messenger.  I  have  already  in  Chapter  X, 
given  an  account  of  Alhambra,  and  the  other  of  like  breeding  is 


466  DESCENDANTS   OF   MAMBUINO   CHIEF. 


IDOL. 

This  stallion  was  bred  by  R.  P.  Todhunter,  of  Fayette  county,  Ky., 
foaled  in  1855;  his  dam  by  American  Eclipse;  second  dam  Kitty 
Muse,  by  Shakspeare;  third  dam  Eliza  Jenkins,  by  Sir  William,  etc., 
etc. — all  thoroughbred  mares. 

This  was  one  of  the  stoutest  and  soundest  of  the  sons  of  the  Chief 
from  thoroughbred  mares,  and  his  trotting  quality  was  of  the  highest 
order.  He  has  left  much  excellent  stock,  and  was  in  Kentucky  a 
very  valuable  and  highly  esteemed  stallion.  During  the  war  he  was 
owned  by  Capt.  Ryland  Todhunter,  and  followed  the  fortunes  of  the 
Confederate  army,  and  was  used  as  a  pack  horse  and  in  various  other 
ways.  In  1871  he  was  sold  to  Dr.  Cheatham,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
and  soon  afterward  to  Wm.  H.  Peck,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  and 
is  now  owned  by  that  gentleman.  I  know  of  no  more  valuable  son 
of  Mambrino  Chief  coming  from  a  thoroughbred  mare. 

BOUEBOK   CHIEF. 

This  was  a  bay  stallion,  not  quite  so  large  as  the  average  sons  of 
Mambrino  Chief,  but  one  that  showed  excellent  quality.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  fast  horse,  and  has  to  his  credit  that  excellent  trotter 
Calmar,  with  record  of  2:23^,  and  twenty-three  heats  in  2:30  or 
better.  His  dam  was  the  race  mare  Puss,  by  Grey  Eagle,  and  she 
was  a  thoroughbred. 

ASHLAIiTD. 

This  was  a  bay  stallion,  not  large,  but  exhibiting  a  good  degree  of 
Cjuality.  He  was  bred  by  James  B.  Clay,  and  as  a  two-year-old  was 
sent  as  a  present  to  Edwin  Thorne,  and  after  being  struck  by  light- 
ning and  barely  escaping  alive,  was  sold  to  George  C.  Hitchcock,  of 
New  Preston,  Conn.  His  dam  was  the  noted  mare  Utilla,  by  Mar- 
grave, also  the  dam  of  the  race  horse  Ulverston,  by  Lexington. 
Ashland  has  produced  some  winners,  and  ])articularly  one  daughter 
from  the  old  mare  Highland  Maid,  won  a  stake  at  an  early  age.  He 
has  one  son,  Joe  Pettit,  with  r>  o  )rd  of  2:30.  He  has  also  a  son, 
Highland  Chief,  that  was  at  three  years  of  age  a  handsome  stallion. 

MAMBUINO    ECLIPSE. 

This  horse  was  foaled  1862;  his  dam  was  by  Zenith,  a  thoroughbred 
son  of  Eclipse,  and  was  a  thoroughbred.  He  has  been  owned  mainly 
by  C.  B.  Carpenter,  of  Tolono,  Illinois,  but  I  know  of  nothing  produced 
by  him  that  would  indicate  that  he  was  a  success. 


THE   STAR   MAMBRINO.  467 

■WOODFORD     MAMBEINO. 

I  close  "this  sketch  of  the  sons  of  Mambrino  Chief  with  this  highly 
disting-uished  and  somewhat  remarkable  stallion. 

His  dam  is  "Woodbine,  a  highly  but  part-bred  mare  by  Woodford,  a 
son  of  Kosciusko,  son  of  Sir  Archy.  Woodford  ran  back  to  Diomed, 
by  one  line  independent  of  Sir  Archy,  it  not  being  certain  to  my  mind, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  that  Sir  Archy  was  by  Diomed.  He  has  been 
and  is  at  this  time,  a  very  great  trotter,  next  to  Lady  Thorn  of  all  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  Mambrino  Chief.  He  was  a  fast  horse  when 
three  years  old,  and  ti'otted  a  mile  in  2:36^.  In  1874  he  was  tried 
three  heats  and  timed  as  follows,  2:27-^,  2:29^  and  2,24:^.  I  believe 
he  has  since  trotted  in  2:205-.  He  is  beyond  doubt  the  fastest  son  of 
Mambrino  Chief. 

He  is  a  dark  brown  horse,  clean  and  blood-like,  with  a  low  and 
compact  form  and  great  muscular  conformation.  His  quarters  and 
stifles  are  wide  and  very  muscular.  He  has  a  thigh  full  24  inches  in 
length,  but  is  only  38  inches  in  length  from  centre  of  hip  to  the  outer 
edge  of  the  hock.  He  is  the  Star  stallion  of  the  Mambrino  Chief 
family.  In  his  individual  excellence,  with  one  exception,  he  is  the 
finest  and  most  powerful  son  of  the  great  sire.  He  was  an  early 
trotter,  and  he  maintains  that  trotting  capacity  at  times  in  the  very 
highest  state  of  development.  He  is  now  on  the  turf,  never  having 
previous  to  the  present  season  entered  vipon  it,  and  his  racing  capacity 
ranks  him  among  the  first  performers  of  the  day.  He  will  close  the 
present  season  with  a  good  public  record  and  a  good  many  heats  in 
2:30  or  better.  From  the  time  he  was  three  years  old  until  the 
present,  with  the  exception  of  certain  times  when  he  was  suifering 
from  infirmity,  he  might  have  been  on  the  turf  and  all  the  time  trot- 
ting under  or  near  2:30.  There  are  two  noteworthy  facts  to  be  . 
observed  with  regard  to  this  very  fast  and  very  capable  trotting 
stallion. 

He  has  never  been  a  sound  horse.  He  has  been  affected  with  an 
infirmity  in  the  form  of  fistula,  which  has  appeared  more  than  once» 
and  has  thrown  him  out  of  condition  and  health. 

Moreover,  his  Diomed  blood  has  asserted  that  other  quality  attend- 
ant upon  great  performance,  the  lack  of  ability  to  reproduce  it.  For 
while  it  is  true  that  he  has  to  his  credit  Magenta,  with  a  record  of 
2:244^,  and  nine  heats  in  2:30,  and  Geo.  A.  Ayer,  2:30,  he  has  been 
and  is  a  failure  as  a  stallion.  No  son  of  Mambrino  Chief  has  stood 
more  highly,  or  had  better  opportunities.      He  was  bred  by  R.  A. 


468  DESCENDANTS   OF   MA  MERINO    CHIEF. 

Alexander,  at  Woodburn,  and  foaled  18G2,  the  same  j'ear  as  Mam- 
brino  Patchen.  He  has  had  the  choicest  mares  of  Kentucky,  but 
never  until  within  a  very  short  period  had  any  colts  that  participated 
in  the  local  stakes  in  Kentucky.  Had  he  been  a  reproducer  equal  to 
his  own  merits  and  ability  as  a  trotter,  no  stallion  of  his  family  would 
now  show  a  list  equal  to  his  record.  But  it  has  been  with  him  as  with 
Brignoli  and  Kentucky  Chief,  and  the  young  stallions  from  Mam- 
brino  Patchen  and  Sir  Archy  mares — the  Diomed  blood  is  not  trotting 
blood,  and  when  allowed  full  or  controlling  sway,  the  stallion  which 
carries  it  will  not  bred  trotters. 

Duroc  blood  is  trotting  blood  in  union  with  that  of  Messenger,  but 
Diomed  blood  is  antagonistic  to  the  ways  and  impulses  of  a  trotter. 

Mambrino  Chief  gave  testimony  to  his  own  blood  composition. 
He  reveled  in  his  own — which  was  Duroc-Messenger — and  the  field 
of  matchless  fertility  to  him  was  one  of  precise  consanguinity.  Wood- 
ford Mambrino  is  the  Star  stallion  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  family,  but 
the  great  producers  of  that  family  are  Mambrino  Patchen,  Ericsson, 
Clark  Chief;  and  the  failure  of  Idol  and  Alhambra  was  not  on  account 
of  a  lack  of  the  proper  blood  elements  for  trotting  quality,  but  because 
their  dams  were  strictly  thoroughbred  mares. 


CHAPTER   XXLY. 

BLACKWOOD  AND   SWIGERT. 

The  carefully  selected  tickets  of  the  lottery  do  not  always  draw 
"the  prize,  and  it  sometimes  is  awarded  to  the  number  chosen  by  no 
one,  and  rejected  by  all.  So  it  happens  in  the  lottery  of  horse 
breeding — the  prize  does  not  come  from  the  institution  that  has  no 
capital  to  back  it  up  ;  but,  when  the  bank  is  solvent,  the  holders  of 
tickets  are  many,  and  the  rich  prizes  are  few — many  will  draw  blanks. 
Such  is  the  history  of  all  enterprises,  and  such,  in  a  great  degree,  is 
that  of  breeding  great  animals. 

In  1865,  the  proprietor  of  "  Woodburn  Farm,"  in  Kentucky,  had 
some  undesirable  stock,  which  he  wanted  to  sell.  Some  were  halt, 
and  some  were  blind.  As  was  then,  and  is  now,  the  custom,  he  took 
the  lot  to  Lexington,  on  one  of  their  so-called  county  court  days,  and 
offered  them  at  auction.  He  succeeded  in  selling  part,  but  one  blind 
mare,  by  Mambrino  Chief,  failed  to  draw  a  single  bid.  He  offered 
her  for  |100,  but  no  takers.  Finally,  he  induced  his  auctioneer  to 
give  him  that  sum  for  her,  and  she  went  at  that  figure.  During  the 
following  winter,  the  auctioneer  found  her  heavy  on  his  hands.  He 
wanted  to  move  elsewhere,  and  one  of  his  difficulties  was  the  disposal 
of  the  blind  mare.  He  finally  succeeded  in  getting  her  off,  on  Mr. 
Andrew  Steel,  for  |125. 

During  all  this  time  she  was  in  foal,  and  in  the  spring  produced  a 
nice  black  colt,  that  showed  in  his  colthood  a  strong  inclination  for 
tall  trotting.  In  time  he  became  somewhat  promising,  and  Mr.  Steel 
gave  Mr.  G.  H.  Buford  one-half  interest  in  the  prospective  trotter,  for 
training  and  developing  him.  The  sequel  is  soon  told.  Blackwood — 
such  was  he  named,  as  a  three-year-old,  trotted,  on  the  second  of 
October,  1869,  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  j^ublic,  for  a  silver  pitcher,  a 
mile  in  2:31 — the  then  fastest  record  for  a  colt  of  that  age.  Mr. 
Steel  paid  Mr.  Buford  $12,500  for  his  half-interest,  and  soon  afterward 
sold  Blackwood  to  Harrison  Durkee,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  for  $30,000, 

(469) 


470  BLACKWOOD   AND   SWIGERT. 

as  has  been  generally  stated.  The  dam  of  Blackwood  was  by  Mam- 
brino  Chief,  and  his  grandam  was  a  dun  mare  that  came  from  Ohio, 
and  was  called  a  three-minute  trotter.  His  sire  was  Alexander's 
Norman,  a  horse  then  hardlv  known  to  fame. 

During  the  same  season  of  1805,  Mr.  Alexander  bred  another  mare 
to  Norman,  that  was  similar  in  blood  to  the  dam  of  Blackwood.  This 
mare  was  Blandina,  she  being  by  Mambrino  Chief,  and  her  dam  being 
the  Burch  Mare  by  Brown  Pilot,  and  he  by  Copperbottom.  The  Burch 
Mare  is  distinguished  as  the  dam  of  Rosalind,  a  mare  that  has  attained 
a  record  of  2:2 If. 

This  mare,  Blandina,  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  mares  produced 
by  Mambrino  Chief.  Her  foal  of  1866  was  a  nice  black  colt,  and  was 
named  Swigert,  after  the  then  superintendent  of  "  Woodburn  Farm.'* 
At  the  age  of  one  year  he  was  sold  to  Richard  Richards,  of  Racine 
county,  "Wis. 

These  two  sons  of  Norman,  and  grandsons  of  Mambrino  Chief,  I  have 
seen  separately,  at  an  interval  of  nearly  six  months,  and,  after  allowing 
for  the  difference  in  condition,  and  the  season  of  the  year,  I  may  say 
that  it  is  a  rare  thing  for  two  stallions,  bred  in  the  same  year,  and  by  the 
same  breeder,  to  bear  so  close  a  resemblance  to  each  other.  They  are 
both  black — although  Swigert  is  entered  in  the  Trotting  Begister  as  a 
brown — the  only  place  he  shows  anything  that  could  be  called  brown 
being  the  side  of  the  head  and  muzzle  and  flanks,  where  the  color  is 
not  so  clear  as  elsewhere.  Swigert  is  slightly  larger  in  some  respects 
than  Blackwood.  He  is  63  inches  and  a  fraction  in  height,  while 
Blackwood  is  62  inches.  Their  length  of  body,  as  reported  to  me — 
not  measured  by  myself — is  68  inches  for  one,  and  68^  for  the  other, 
and  the  girth  is  72  inches  for  Blackwood  and  74  for  Swigert  ;  and 
these  measurements  are  probably  correct,  and  show  how  closely  the 
two  horses  resemble  each  other  in  size — but  in  appearance  they  are 
very  similar  indeed.  Blackwood  shows  a  small  star,  a  left  hind  foot 
white,  and  a  little  on  the  other,  but  Swigert  has  no  white  marks. 
Their  limb  measurement,  taken  by  myself,  is  almost  identical  in  each 
case — front  cannon-bone,  llf  inches  each,  and  forearm,  20^  inches  for 
Blackwood,  and  204-  inches  for  Swigert  ;  and,  in  the  hindquarter,  39 
inches  from  hip  to  hock,  and  a  thigh  24^  inches  for  each. 

I  have  already,  in  Chapter  XXIl,  shown  the  origin  of  this  24^-inch 
thigh  to  have  been  in  the  family  of  Mambrino  Chief,  inherited  from 
Dviroc;  but  if  any  one  has  any  doubt  about  the  inheritable  and  cer- 
tain transmission  of  this  anatomical  feature,  I  will  call  his  attention 


DUROC   CONFORxMATION,  471 

to  Kate  Crockett,  the  dam  of  Lula,  by  this  same  Xorman.  Kate 
Crockett  and  her  daughter  each  have  a  thigh  22^  inches;  but  her  son 
Goodwood,  by  Blackwood,  has  a  thigh  25  inches  long,  and  is  only  15 
hands  2  inches  high.  The  dam  of  Rosalind  has  a  thigh  22-2-  inches, 
while  her  son  by  Dictator,  two  years  and  nine  months  old,  has  one 
24^  inches  long.  Black  Prince,  by  Dictator,  from  Madam  Loomer, 
15  hands  3  inches  high,  has  a  thigh  24  inches;  while  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick, by  Hambletonian,  from  same  dam,  has  a  thigh  only  23  inches; 
Dictator's  dam  being  a  Star  mare,  and  having  also  the  Duroc  cross. 
A  small  mare,  not  over  15  hands  1  inch,  by  Swigert,  dam  by  Eureka, 
runs  in  the  measure  of  38^ — 24  inches;  and  of  the  half-dozen  of  the 
full-grown  produce  of  Swigert  inspected  by  me,  not  one  showed  a 
thigh  less  than  24  inches,  and  in  most  cases  a  fraction  over.  One 
mare,  whose  dam  was  bv  a  son  of  Huno-erford's  Blucher,  he  bv 
Blucher,  and  he  by  Duroc,  showed  full  24f  inches.  It  will  be  borne 
in  mind  that  Lady  Patriot,  a  small  mare,  not  over  15  hands  2  inches, 
had  a  thigh  24  inches,  and  her  sire  was  a  reputed  grandson  of 
Blucher.  The  inspection  of  several  animals  descended  from  this 
Hungerford's  Blucher  leaves  no  doubt  on  my  mind  that  the  peculiar 
conformation  of  Lady  Patriot  and  the  Volunteer  family  is  derived 
from  this  horse  Blucher.  I  hope  the  multiplication  of  facts  on  this 
point  will  make  it  clear,  and  I  return  from  the  digression. 

Each  of  these  stallions  has  very  noticeable  Avithers,  and  shoulder 
very  flat  on  the  top,  not  very  high,  but  very  wide,  and  covered  by  a 
compact  and  closely-woven  mass  of  cartilage,  very  much  like  that  of 
Hambletonian.  It  is  so  compact  in  each  that  it  is  hard  to  discover 
the  upper  edge  of  the  shoulder-blade,  so  closely  is  it  joined  to  the 
withers,  and  so  broad  and  closely  woven  is  the  covering.  I  have  re- 
cently been  told,  by  one  who  knew  him  well,  that  American  Eclipse 
had  much  such  a  shoulder.  It  is  certainly  one  of  great  symmetry  and 
strength.  The  head  of  each  of  these  horses  is  plain  and  bony,  but 
not  coarse,  and  shows  the  large  and  prominent  brain  development  of 
the  Messeno-er  familv,  but  not  as  full  and  clear  as  in  some  of  the 
Abdallahs.  The  eye  is  full,  but  quiet,  and  not  so  prominent  and 
expressive  as  in  Hambletonian.  The  outline  and  general  contour  of 
the  body  is  round,  even  and  compact;  good  back,  not  of  great  length, 
well  ribbed  and  symmetrical.  The  croup  runs  out  tolerably  straight, 
but  not  so  much  so  as  in  Hambletonian.  The  tail  sits  on  rather  high, 
and  the  rump  is  not  in  any  respect  a  drooping  one,  with  quarters  of 
moderate  fullness,  but  of  the   clean,  muscular  sort,  and  of  even  and 


472  BLACKWOOD   AND    SWIGERT. 

uniform  proportions.  Hips  not  prominent;  a  long  and  rather  slender 
gaskin;  the  thigh  not  being  heavily  muscled,  but  seeming  rather 
deficient  in  this  respect,'  and  the  heavy  part  of  the  quarter  not  com- 
ing down  very  well.  The  hind  legs  of  these  horses  are  rather  straight, 
more  so  than  the  average  sons  of  mares  by  Mambrino  Chief;  the 
hocks  are  large  and  well  formed,  and  show  no  tendency  toward  curbs, 
or  any  leaning  toward  the  Maml^rino  Chief  pattern  in  form.  The 
measurement  from  hip  to  hock,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  the  old  Messen- 
ger formula  of  39  inches;  and  a  thigh  24|-  inches  gives  these  two  a 
great  similarity  to  Thorndale  and  Almont,  excejDt  in  the  muscular 
appearance  of  the  quarters  and  thighs  of  the  two  latter.  They  are 
not  so  wide  at  the  stifle,  nor  so  large  in  the  thigh  or  gaskin,  as  Almont 
and  Thorndale.  They  each  have  handsome  tails,  well  set  on,  and  a 
long,  well-formed  neck — in  all  of  which  they  each  resemble  the  other 
very  much.  The  entire  outward  form  and  appearance  of  the  two 
horses  is  strikingly  alike,  and  they  may  be  set  down  as  the  Castor  and 
Pollux  of  the  trotting  stud.  Their  gaits  or  manner  of  going  follow 
from  their  similarity  of  blood  and  conformation,  and  are  precisely 
alike,  although  I  have  never  seen  either  of  them  in  motion.  In  each 
case  I  was  able  to  describe  the  gait  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  owner  or 
keeper. 

A  horse  or  a  family  that  has  a  24|-  inch  thigh,  and  only  measures 
39  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  will  trot  very  wide  apart  behind — wider 
than  is  necessary — and  will  lift  the  hind  feet  and  hocks  too  high. 
This  action  will  be  controlled  somewhat  by  the  structure  and  exten- 
sion of  the  muscles  of  the  hindquarter;  and,  for  this  reason,  those  of 
the  same  measurement  will  differ  in  the  degree  of  their  faulty  action. 
Thorndale  lifts  his  hind  feet  too  high,  and  he  strikes  the  cross-bar  of 
the  skeleton  wagon  with  his  feet,  unless  specially  constructed  for  him. 
Blackwood  and  Swigert,  with  their  long  and  more  slender  gaskins, 
raise  their  hocks  entirely  too  high,  and  both  strike  the  cross-bar  with 
their  hocks,  unless  the  sulky  be  specially  built  for  them. 

The  stifle  action  of  these  two  families  is  precisely  alike,  and  rather 
similar  to  the  Almonts.  Indeed,  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise  with  the 
similarity  of  conformation.  This  peculiarity  of  anatomy,  which  was 
ingrafted  on  the  American  trotter  by  Duroc,  and  which  has  a  tendency 
to  an  increasing  development  with  each  successive  generation,  like  the 
trotting  peculiarity  of  the  Messenger  blood,  has  made  its  mark  on  the 
trotting  gait  of  a  very  large  and  rapidly  increasing  branch  of  our 
roadster  family.     In  some  instances,  as  we  have  seen,  notably  in  that 


*      DUROC-MESPENGER   GAIT.  473 

of  the  Ericsson  family,  it  has  been  compelled  to  yield  either  to  the 
superior  and  controlling  agency  of  the  Messenger  conformation,  by 
the  prepotency  of  that  blood,  or,  as  is  clearly  the  case  of  Lady  Thorn, 
from  causes  that  can  not  be  explained  or  accounted  for;  thus  forming, 
as  in  her  case,  an  exceptional  instance.  But,  in  nearly  all  other 
instances,  the  tendency  of  this  cross  has  been  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  a  long  thigh,  and  a  great  width  at  the  stifle,  which  brings  a 
corresponding  width  of  gait,  and  an  elevation  of  the  hock  totally 
unlike  the  old-time  trotters  of  Messenger  blood,  or  those  of  the  present 
day  where  that  blood  has  free  scope,  and  is  uncontrolled  by  this  most 
remarkable  element. 

I  have  stated  that  the  Blackwoods,  Swigerts  and  Almonts  lift  their 
hocks  too  high,  and,  further,  that  a  horse  that  has  a  thigh  34|-  inches 
long,  and  measures  but  39  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  will  trot  thus. 
Let  us  look  at  this  point,  and  see  if  this  gait  is  the  result  of  such 
conformation. 

By  reference  to  the  lines  I  and  e/",  in  the  cut  of  Hambletonian,  it 
■v^dll  be  seen  that  in  the  case  of  a  long  thigh  {J\  and  of  a  short 
measure  from  hip  to  hock,  when  the  foot  is  lifted  and  moved  forward, 
inasmuch  as  the  thigh  is  a  single  member  that  can  not  bend,  the 
stifle  must  be  raised  so  high  as  to  clear  the  flank  altogether,  and,  also, 
■either  strike  the  body  of  the  horse,  or  it  must  spread  out  and  lap  over 
the  sides;  the  stifle  is  forced  to  move  forward  in  a  horizontal  position, 
and  the  hock  is  elevated  to  a  great  height  at  each  step;  whereas,  if 
the  thigh  be  a  short  one,  the  line  I  swings  forward,  like  the  rod  of  a 
pendulum,  and  the  hock  passes  under  the  line  of  the  stifle,  which 
rises  at  a  fair  elevation  (the  thigh  meanwhile  assuming  almost  a  per- 
pendicular position),  and  the  hock  advances,  and  the  hind  foot  is 
extended  far  forward  and  in  direct  line  under  the  body.  Such  a 
motion  is  practically  impossible  with  a  horse  that  has  a  thigh  24^ 
inches,  and  only  39  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  unless  aided  by  an 
exceptional  muscular  organization.  Administrator  is  the  only  stallion 
well  known  to  the  public  that  has  a  24^  inch  thigh  that  can  move  in 
this  way.  He  does  not  elevate  his  hocks,  but  moves  his  feet  in  right 
line  under  his  body.  But  he  is  entirely  exceptional,  and  is  only 
enabled  to  do  it  by  reason  of  the  great  size  of  the  triangle  of  the 
hindquarter  (marked  by  the  lines  H  G  F)^  in  this  respect  being  the 
same  as  Hambletonian;  otherwise  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  swing 
the  line  1  along  so  far  as  to  pass  the  line  e/,  without  spreading  his 
stifles  wide  apart,  and  elevating  his  hocks.     While  I  say  he  advances 


474  BLACKWOOD    AND   SWTGERT.  ' 

his  hind  feet  under  his  body,  I  must  add,  that  the  shortness  of  his 
measure  prevents  their  advance  as  far  as  I  like — but  there  is  no  sprawl. 
The  muscular  build  of  the  Almonts  causes  them  to  lift  less  than  some 
others,  yet  they  lift  too  high,  and  in  the  case  of  Blackwood  and  Swigert, 
the  fault  is  a  decided  one. 

The  question  has  been  asked,  Is  there  any  true  proportion  or 
measure  for  a  perfect  trotter?  I  answer,  there  is;,  and  there  are  some 
stallions  that  come  very  near  to  the  true  proportion.  The  Abdallah 
and  Messenger  standard  of  39 — 23  is  about  as  near  the  proportion  as 
can  be  selected.  A  stallion  that  has  a  thigh  24  inches,  should  not  be 
less  than  40  to  41  inches  from  hip  to  hock.  This  was  Hambletonian's 
and  Volunteer's  j^roportion.  Florida  is  24 — 39  j,  and  Governor  Sprague 
is  23| — 39^:,  and  those  stallions  move  as  near  right  as  any  that  can  be 
selected.  Smuggler  is  24 — 40,  and  no  finer  action  behind  was  ever 
witnessed  than  he  dis23lays.  Lady  Thorn,  with  her  23  inch  thigh,  and 
42  inches  from  hip  to  hock,  had  a  gait  that  was  the  marvel  of  all  who 
beheld  it.  The  Harry  Clay  family  all  have  a  conformation  approaching 
this  measure.  Such  a  measure  Avill  trot  very  close — hocks  very  low, 
never  lifted  in  the  rear,  the  feet  far  under  the  body.. 

These  horses  that  have  the  excessive  length  of  thigh,  show  a  great 
deal  of  trotting  action  when  young — and  at  slow  paces  it  is  very  at- 
tractive— but  when  one  of  these  showy  fellows  is  compelled  to  go  in 
fast  time,  the  great  difficulty  of  handling  his  long  levers  begins  to  tell 
upon  the  crowded  space  in  which  he  must  perform  his  evolutions,  and 
the  muscle  with  which  he  accomplishes  them.  When  his  stifle  is 
thumping  against  his  sides,  and  he  is  compelled  to  double  up  his  long 
members,  after  the  fashion  of  the  toy  called  a  jumping  jack^  in  the 
quickest  sort  of  time,  he  is  apt  to  make  some  false  motions,  and  the 
result  is,  a  gait  that  is  called  broken  or  wabbling,  half-gallop,  half-trot; 
or,  gallop  with  one  foot,  and  trot  with  the  other. 

These  so-called  broken-gaited  horses  all  trot  very  nicely  until 
crowded  for  fast  motion,  then  their  machinery  does  not  fold  together 
readily,  and  they  make  false  motions,  and  go  unsteadily.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  horse  that  is  24 — 40,  or  23 — 39,  or  23| — 39^,  and,  at  the  same 
time  muscled  as  Albemarle,  Sprague  or  Grant,  can  trot  fast  without 
hitching  or  hobbling,  and  none  of  these  horses  lift  their  hocks  high,  or 
go  with  a  sprawling  gait.  They  trot  level  and  true,  and  set  their  feet 
well  under  the  body,  only  opening  behind  wide  enough  to  pass  clearly 
and  readily. 

AUie  West,  the  fastest  of  the  Almonts,  had  a  grandamby  Downing's 


THE   EAllLY   MESSENGERS.  475 

Bay  ^Messenger,  and  was  a  large  horse,  15  hands  34^  inches.  This 
extra  Messenger  cross  counteracted  his  double  Duroc,  and  gave  him  a 
measure  of  234 — SOi-,  and  he  made  his  fast  time  of  2:31  without 
hobbling  or  hitching — and  a  grand  trotter  he  was.  The  colt  Good- 
wood, by  Blackwood,  from  Kate  Crockett,  the  dam  of  Lula,  is  41|- 
from  hip  to  hock,  and  25  inches  in  the  thigh.  While  he  will  lift 
his  hocks  very  high,  he  will  also  have  a  length  of  sweep  for  the  hind 
feet  greater  than  the  average  of  his  family.  With  such  a  conforma- 
tion he  should  show  a  very  attractive  gait. 

The  Messenger  horse  of  the  early  day  trotted  with  his  hind  feet  set 
well  under  him,  and  in  many  cases  reaching  far  to  the  front,  precisely 
after  the  manner  of  Lady  Thorn  and  Mrs.  Caudle,  the  dam  of  Erics- 
son. There  was  no  sprawl,  nor  wide  spreading  of  the  stifles,  hocks  or 
hind  feet.  The  latter  spread  far  enough  to  j^ass  clearly,  and  no  more, 
and  Avere  set  forward  well  toward  the  front,  and  in  direct  line  under 
the  body.  The  Abdallahs  and  Champions  yet  show  that  gait,  much 
after  the  similitude  of  the  early  type.  Sally  Miller — the  dam  of  Lono- 
Island  Blackhawk,  Topgallant,  Whalebone,  Paul  Pry,  all  of  them 
g;reat  trotters,  and  of  the  early  Messengers,  trotted  after  the  close 
fashion.  I  have  recently  conversed  with  a  gentleman  who  knew  these 
old  and  early  trotters  very  Avell,  and  can  yet  give  clear  ideas  of  the 
way  in  which  they  differed  from  the  wide  and  loose-going  fellows  so 
common  in  our  day.  There  was  nothing  loose  about  the  Messenger 
horse.  He  was  the  most  compact,  closely-built  and  powerful  horse, 
for  his  inches,  perhaps,  ever  seen.  He  had  no  surplus,  either  of  lev- 
erage or  muscle,  and  his  way  of  going  was  just  what  such  an  organism 
would  secure. 

The  two  stallions  now  under  consideration  approach  in  many 
respects  very  closely  to  the  Messenger  model,  but  differ  from  it  in 
two  very  essential  and  important  particulars.  The  one,  I  have 
already  mentioned,  was  a  modification  derived  fi-om  the  Duroc  blood; 
the  other  is  found  in  the  conformation  of  the  foreleg — a  cannon-bone 
a  little  too  long,  and  a  forearm  as  much  too  short.  A  front  cannon 
1  If  inches,  and  a  forearm  20^  inches,  is  not  a  good  proportion,  and 
was  not  the  model  of  the  Messenger  family.  The  result  of  this  con- 
formation is  seen  in  the  action  of  the  forelegs  of  this  family.  They 
have  plenty  of  what  some  call  knee-action.  I  have  comj^ared  their 
rear  action  to  that  of  Thorndale  and  Almont.  The  latter  reaches  his 
front  feet  out  well — far  out — but  not  very  high.  Thorndale  reaches 
out  well,  and  raises  his  feet  quite  as  high  as  he  ought.     His  action  in 


476  BLACKWOOD    AND   SWIGERT. 

front  is  really  splendid.  The  Blackwoods  and  Swigorts  bend  their 
knees,  raise  them  high,  but  do  not  thrOw  the  feet  out  so  well  in  front; 
and  when  they  bring  them  down,  they  do  it  with  a  short,  chopping 
stroke,  that  causes  the  foot  to  strike  the  ground  sharply.  In  fact,  they 
seem  almost  to  strike  backward,  and  often  strike  the  quarters.  This 
defect — for  such  it  is — exists  in  this  family  in  some  degree,  but  not 
so  greatly  as  in  many  others,  and  particularly  far  less  than  in  the  noted 
trotting  stallion  which  forms  the  subject  of  Chapter  XX.  In  their 
case,  proper  shoeing  will,  in  great  part,  remedy  the  defect,  and  prac- 
tice will  overcome  it  so  far  that  it  shall  not  seriously  operate  against 
them  as  a  family  of  trotters.  I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  blemish  or  seri- 
ous fault,  but  it  is  even  more  objectionable  than  the  faulty  action  of 
the  hindquarters,  as  in  that  case  the  fault  is  simjDly  one  of  excessive 
action,  which,  in  a  sire  is  not  very  objectionable,  as  he  will  be  expect- 
ed to  secure  a  strong  and  decided  trotting  gait  in  the  produce  of 
mares  that  lack  in  trotting  action.  But  more  trotting  horses  fail  in 
their  forelegs  than  in  their  hind  ones,  and  the  reason  is,  they  strike 
the  ground  so  hard  with  their  feet,  that  the  concussion  is  a  greater 
strain  than  that  involved  in  the  propelling  action  of  the  hind  legs. 
Moreover,  a  horse  thus  defectively  constructed  can  not  get  his  front 
feet  out  at  all  times  readily  enough  to  steady  him  in  a  raj^id  gait;  he 
loses  his  foot,  and  breaks,  and  such  an  one  can  not  be  a  good  or 
ready  breaker.  When  forced  to  gallop,  he  can  not  skip  along  and 
catch  again,  bvit  gallops  so  high  that  he  can  only  catch  again  in  the 
trotting  gait  when  his  rate  of  speed  is  much  reduced.  The  trotter 
that  is  evenly  made  up  in  front,  with  proper  length  of  cannon  and 
forearm,  rarely  breaks;  and  when  he  does,  he  catches  again  readily, 
and  loses  nothing,  or  little,  either  way.  As  a  family  of  trotters,  I 
would  prefer  them  with  less  of  what  we  call  vigorous  trotting  action 
— they  would  make  more  speed  with  less  show  and  effort. 

The  one  feature  of  this  family  that  stands  out  prominently,  is  their 
ready  and  high  trotting  quality.  They  seem  to  take  to  it  readily  and 
very  young,  the  latter  quality  having  been  inherited  through  their 
Mambrino  Chief  dams.  These  two  stallions  also  seem  to  have  the 
faculty  of  engrafting  a  trotting  gait  on  the  produce  of  thoroughbred 
mares,  much  like  that  of  Almont;  but  I  have  not  seen  enough  of 
their  produce  from  such  mares  to  enable  me  to  say  that  they  have  the 
faculty  in  equal  degree.  Aside  from  the  exceptions  of  gait,  above 
mentioned,  these  two  stallions  seem  to  embody  many  of  the  traits, 
characteristics  and  qualities  of  old  Messenger,  as  I  gather  them  from 


HIGH   TROTTING   QUALITY.  477 

the  traditional  accounts  of  him  and  his  stock,  and  from  such  of  the 
descendants  of  that  horse  in  our  day  as  I  am  able  to  find. 

With  the  above  exceptions,  I  may  say  that  I  know  of  no  family 
that  shows  so  much  of  the  genuine  character  and  form  of  old  Messen- 
ger as  these  two  stallions,  so  much  alike  in  every  respect.  The  brain 
and  foreliead  development  shows  the  Messenger  plainly,  but  not  quite 
so  clearly  as  some  families  known  to  me.  The  clean,  flat  legs,  the 
sound  joints,  and  freedom  from  curbs,  spavins,  splints  or  ringbones, 
or  other  defects,  all  attest  the  perfection  of  health  that  prevails  in 
the  family.  There  seems  to  be  no  lack  of  muscle,  no  weakness  nor 
marked  deficiency  in  any  particular;  and  the  general  contour  of  the 
horse,  in  each  case,  impresses  me,  on  a  close  inspection,  with  the 
presence  of  one  quality,  that  I  find  so  much  lacking  in  many,  and 
present  only  in  a  few,  that  of  great  positiveness  in  every  point  of  type 
and  character.  In  this  respect,  I  think,  I  was  particularly  struck  by 
Blackwood,  and  I  can  not  say  that  Swigert,  in  any  respect,  falls  below 
him.  Condition  has  much  to  do  with  the  estimate  an  inspection 
creates  in  the  mind,  and  in  this  respect,  when  I  saw  Blackwood,  he 
was  in  far  better  state  than  S\\"igert,  whom  I  saw  after  an  accident 
from  which  he  was  slightly  disabled.  His  success  in  the  stud,  when 
locality  and  the  class  of  mares  he  has  received  are  considered,  has  not 
fallen  below  that  of  Blackwood.  He  has  been  kept  in  the  stud 
closely,  and  had  a  service  of  neaHy  one  hundred  mares  yearly,  and 
was  never  in  the  hands  of  a  trainer  until  187G,  when,  at  the  age  of 
ten  years,  and  after  the  close  of  a  season  in  which  he  had  the  above 
number  of  mare'^,  he  at<-iined  a  rate  of  speed  below  2:30,  that 
exceeded  the  expectations  of  his  owner  and  patrons. 

It  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  blood  forces  that  have  united  in 
the  composition  of  these  two  stallions,  so  much  alike,  and  of  so  great 
excellence.  Their  respective  dams  being  each  by  Mambrino  Chief, 
my  delineation  of  that  family,  in  Chapters  XXII  and  XXIII,  presents 
my  readers  with  a  clear  statement  of  their  composition,  derived  from 
that  source.  The  2d  dam  of  Blackwood  is  stated  to  have  been  a  dun 
mare  of  unknown  blood  that  came  from  Ohio,  and  was  a  fast  trotter. 

The  2d  dam  of  Swigert  is  a  mare  that  has  herself  produced  the  fast 
and  noted  mare  Rosalind.  She  is  by  a  son  of  Copperbottom,  a  fast- 
pacing  stock,  well  known  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  always 
regarded  as  possessed  of  good  blood.  So  far  as  the  known  qualities 
of  the  two  grandams  extend,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  advantage 
is  in  favor  of  Swigert,  and  his  own  dam  has  been  the  maternal  ances- 


478  BLACKWOOD  AND   SWIGERT. 

tor  of  several  other  good  ones,  among  them  the  stallion  Abdallah 
Pilot,  by  Alexander's  Abdallah. 

Norman,  the  sire  of  these  two  stallions,  was  foaled  about  1845,  at 
or  near  Lansingburg,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was  by  the 
Morse  Horse,  so  called,  and  his  dam  is  stated,  by  the  Trotting  Regis- 
ter^ to  have  been  by  Jersey  Highlander,  and  his  2d  dam  by  Bishop's 
Hambletonian. 

A  gentleman  now  living  in  Chicago  and  well  known  to  me,  says 
that  he  knew  Jersey  Highlander  in  Saratoga  county.  New  York,  very 
well;  he  (Mr.  E.)  was  then  sixteen  years  old;  that  the  horse  was  then 
about  twentv  vears  old;  that  he  was  called  a  Hambletonian;  that  he 
was  a  bay;  and  Mr.  E.  gives  the  name  of  VYm.  Benton,  Avho  then  had 
him  and  mentions  the  names  of  one  or  more  persons  who  sent  mares 
to  him. 

The  above  is  the  reputed  pedigree  of  Norman;  and  before  entering 
into  that  of  the  Morse  Horse,  I  may  say  that  he  j^roduced  two  sons 
by  the  nanie  of  Norman,  Alexander's,  a  brown,  and  Bathgate's,  a  grey 
— and  this  latter  was  a  trotter  and  the  sire  of  trotters,  among  others 
the  horse  called  General  Taylor,  that  was  taken  to  California  and 
there  trotted  thirty  miles  in  1  hour  and  47  minutes  and  59  seconds, 
and  on  another  occasion  trotted  ten  miles  to  wagon  in  29  min\ates 
and  414^  seconds.  Norman,  the  sire  of  Blackwood  and  Swigert,  was 
also  the  sire  of  the  famous  mare  Lula,  that,  in  1875,  attained  a  record 
of  2:15 — second  only  to  the  renowned  Goldsmith  Maid — and  Maj' 
Queen,  formerly  Nashville  Girl,  that  now  stands  with  a  record  of 
2:20.  These  remarkably  fast  trotters,  so  closely  related  to  the  sire  of 
our  two  stallions  under  consideration,  show  that  there  is  a  powerful 
concentration  of  trotting  blood  of  the  first  class  near  at  hand. 

The  sire  of  Norman,  as  before  stated,  was  the  so-called  Morse  Horse, 
also  sometimes  called  Norman.  This  Morse  Horse  was  entered  in  the 
Trotting  Register  as  reputed  to  have  been  by  a  Norman  horse  from 
France  and  dam  by  Ogden's  Messenger,  but  this  pedigree  encounters 
the  same  fate,  at  the  hands  of  the  Monthly  above  referred  to,  that 
seems  to  have  been  shared  by  so  many  others.  The  pedigree  of  this 
Morse  Horse  has  been  fully  explored  by  Mr.  Richards,  the  owner  of 
Swigert,  and  the  facts  obtained  by  him  have,  in  part,  been  presented 
to  the  public  already  through  the  above  named  channel.  I  can  not 
present  these  facts  in  more  concise  form  than  to  give  the  substance  of 
the  several  statements  made  to  Mr.  Richards  in  regard  to  the  jjedigree 
under  consideration. 


SIRE   OF   THE   MOKSE   HORSE.  479 

Mr.  John  Carswell,  of  Racine,  Wisconsin,  says: 

I  lived  in  Salem,  Washington  county,  Ne*v  York,  from  my  birtli.  in  1809, 
until  1836.  My  father's  nearest  neighbor  was  James  McNitt,  the  owner  of  a 
farm  and  a  distillery,  who  fattened  hogs  and  marketed  them  at  Montreal  and 
Quebec.  He  was,  also,  something  of  a  dealer  in  horses.  On  his  return  from 
a  trip  to  that  region,  about  1829  or  1830,  he  brought  back  a  stallion  called 
European,  that  was  the  sire  of  the  Morse  Hor.?e.  He  represented  the  horse  as 
having  been  imported  into  Canada  from  France.  He  was  en  old  horse,  and 
showed  signs  of  ill  usage,  being  badly  knee-sprung,  but  was,  nevertheless, 
one  of  the  best  trotters  at  that  time.  He  was  a  beautiful  model — long  body, 
good  length  of  limb,  and  lofty  carriage ;  his  color  was  very  light  grey,  or 
nearly  white.  Mr.  McNitt  was  also  the  owner  of  the  dam  of  the  Morse 
Horse,  and  he  was  foaled  about  1832.  I  was  not  aware  that  he  knew  anything 
of  the  mare's  pedigree.  She  was  a  beautiful  animal,  and  weighed  about  1,100 
lbs.;  a  compactly  built,  bright  bay  mare;  black  mane  and  tail — very  hand- 
some. I  remember  seeing  the  colt — a  very  ordinary  looking  one — the  next 
morning  after  he  was  foaled.  I  last  saw  him  in  1837 ;  he  was  then  called  five 
years  old,  and  owned  by  James  Mills,  now  of  Illinois;  he  was  a  fine-Iookiug 
colt,  very  dark  iron-grey  color.  Mr.  McNitt  sold  him  to  Martin  Stover,  for 
$80,  and  he  sold  him  to  Mr.  Mills. 

Mr.  B.  A.  Jenkins,  of  La  Crosse,  Wisconsin,  states  as  follows: 

Mr.  James  McNitt  brought  from  Canada  to  Washington  county.  New  York, 
two  stallions,  one  a  large,  dappled  grey  horse,  apparently  of  some  good  blood ; 
he  was  all  used  up  as  to  legs,  having  but  one  sound  one — he  could  hardly 
walk — knees  worked  out  of  all  shape.  As  to  general  figure,  he  was  a  beauty; 
long  and  sound,  smooth  hips,  short  back,  strong  loins,  neck  well  set  on 
shoulders,  with  a  beautiful  head.  The  same  man  owned  a  mare  that  showed 
blood,  and  was  called  the  Beck  Mare;  from  this  mare  and  the  above  horse  a 
colt  was  raised ;  when  young  was  nearly  black,  but  became  a  splendid  iron- 
grey.  This  colt,  that  was  afterward  called  the  Morse  Horse,  was  bought  by 
Martin  Stover.  He  raised  him,  and  sold  him,  I  think,  when  three  years  old 
to  James  Mills.  I  heard,  since  I  came  West,  of  Mills  exhibiting  this  horse 
and  six  of  his  colts,  and  driving  all  of  them,  with  the  sire  in  the  lead,  at  the 
New  York  State  Fair  at  Saratoga.  The  other  horse,  bought  by  McNitt  at  the 
same  time,  was  a  Canadian  pony,  having  all  the  characteristics  of  the  Kanuck ; 
was  a  fast  trotter ;  went  with  a  pawing  gait,  lifting  his  forefeet  very  high ; 
was  long-bodied,  heavy  mane  and  shaggy  appearance.  He  was  as  good  a 
horse  of  his  kind  as  I  ever  saw. 

Martin  McNitt,  the  son  of  James  McNitt,  and  now  of  Brown  county, 
Illinois,  says: 

The  Morse  Horse  was  sired  by  an  imported  horse,  imported  from  France  to 

Montreal,  about  1816.      My   father,  James   McNitt,  of  Salem,  Washington 

county.  New  York,  bought  him  about  1826  or  1827.     He  was  16  hands  high, 

dappled  grey,  silver  mane  and  tail,  high  headed,  nice  limbs,  beautiful  flat 

31 


480  .BLACKWOOD   AND    SWIGERT. 

legs,  and  as  fine  appearing  a  horse  as  I  ever  saw.  My  father  had,  at  the  same 
time,  two  other  stallions ;  they  were  Canadian  French.  One  of  them  could 
trot  a  mile  in  less  than  three  minutes — the  imported  horse  could  out-trot  him. 
The  Morse  Horse  was  by  the  imported  horse,  and  out  of  a  mare  called  Beck; 
she  was  16  hands  high,  bright  bay.  My  father  sold  the  Morse  Horse  to 
Martin  Stover,  and  he  sold  him  to  Mr.  Mills,  and  Mr.  Mills  sold  him  to  Mr. 
Morse.  He  was  about  16  hands  high,  but  had  never  been  trained  Avhen  he  sold 
him.    I  can  not  give  the  pedigree  of  tlie  horse  nor  the  mare. 

Mr.  James  Mills,  of  Peoria  county,  Illinois,  states  as  follows: 

James  McNitt  bought  the  sire  of  the  Morse  Horse  at  La  Prairie,  Canada. 
He  was  an  imported  horse,  and  was  dark  grey.  Mr.  McNitt  raised  the  Morse 
Horse  until  he  was  three  years  old;  he  sold  him  to  Martin  Stover;  I  bought 
him  from  Mr.  Stover  in  his  fourth  year — that  was  thirty-nine  years  ago 
(1836)  last  December.  He  was  dark  grey.  I  sold  him  to  David  Tefl't  and 
Zack  Adams,  and  they  sold  him  to  Phil.  Allen  and  Calvin  Morse.  His 
grandam  was  sired  by  a  Messenger,  from  Saratoga,  called  Peacock.  Mr.  Em- 
merson  owned  the  horse.  His  grandam  was  a  dark  chestnut,  without  any 
marks;  his  dam  was  Hambletonian,  dark  bay,  without  marks,  weight  1,100 
lbs. ;  his  dam's  name  Becca,  grandam's  Mozza.  Both  of  these  mares  were 
bred  by  my  father,  Joseph  T.  Mills.  He  sold  Becca  to  Robert  Stewart,  and 
he  sold  her  to  James  McNitt. 

In  a  second  letter,  Mr.  Mills  further  states: 

As  near  as  I  can  recollect,  Mr.  McNitt  brought  the  sire  of  the  Morse  Horse 
from  Canada  in  1831 ;  but  Mr.  Carswell  may  be  right.  Mr.  Morse  told  me  the 
summer  lie  bought  him  he  weighed  over  1,200  lbs.  He  had  a  very  nice 
shaped  foot.  I  never  knew  him  to  interfere  or  strike  his  feet  against  each 
other  in  traveling.  He  had  a  very  flat  bone  and  wide  leg ;  had  a  tine  body, 
well  ribbed,  and  his  tail  came  from  his  body  straight  and  nice;  his  neck  was 
rather  heavy  for  beauty ;  his  nostril  was  large  enough  to  put  your  fist  into  it, 
and  his  wind  was  like  a  blacksmith's  bellows.  I  never  heard  of  any  of  his 
colts  being  spavined  or  curbed.  Mr.  Teft't  was  mistaken  about  Becca  being 
by  Bishop's  Hambletonian ;  her  sire  was  Hambletonian  that  belonged  to  Jack 
Williams,  of  Middletowu,  Vermont. 

Mr.  Alonzo  Hyde,  of  Middletown,  Rutland  county,  Vermont,  set- 
tles the  question  as  to  the  sire  of  Becca,  the  dam  of  the  Morse  Horse. 
He  says: 

I  was  acquainted  with  Mr.  Williams  almost  from  his  birth  till  he  died. 
His  name  was  John  Williams — Jack  was  a  nickname  that  he  was  known  by 
from  Canada  to  Baltimore,  Maryland.  He  never  owned  the  horse  spoken  of, 
but  had  the  care  of  him  the  last  season  that  he  was  kept  here,  and  was  re- 
turned to  his  owners,  Eddy  &  Remington ;  after  that  time  he  was  owned  by 
Mr.  Harris,  and  took  the  name  of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  and  died  in  his 
hands.  I  will  give  you  the  pedigree  of  this  stallion.  The  old  Bishop's  Ham- 
bletonian I  knew  well ;  have  been  to  Bishop's  stable  and  have  seen  him  there 


MORSE   HORSE.  481 

and  at  other  places.  His  color  was  mahogany  bay,  rather  dark.  This  Har- 
ris' Hambletonian  was  by  Bishop's  Hambletonian;  the  dam  was  a  grey  mare 
brought  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  I  knew  her  well.  The  Judson  Horse 
I  knew  well  also ;  he  was  by  Bishop's  Hambletonian.  There  was  one  other 
by  Bishop's  Hambletonian,  called  Comet,  and  there  was  one  other,  the  second 
generation  of  Hambletonians  from  the  Bishop;  one  got  by  Harris'  horse, 
called  the  Noble  Horse;  one  other,  called  the  Parris  Horse  (both  of  these  were 
^ood  stock  getters),  and  one  other  stallion  by  the  Judson  Hambletonian, 
called  the  Andreas  Horse.  You  can  depend  on  what  I  tell  you  of  this  Jack 
Williams  horse,  the  very  Harris  Horse.  He  was  foaled  within  one  hundred 
rods  of  my  father's  house,  and  I  was  the  first  human  being  the  colt  ever  saw, 
and  the  first  boy  that  ever  put  the  bit  into  his  mouth. 

These  letters  enable  us  to  decide,  with  reasonable  safety,  that  the 
Morse  Horse,  the  sire  of  Norman,  was  by  this  so-called  imported 
horse;  that  his  dam  was  by  the  Harris  Hambletonian,  a  son  of  Bishop's 
Hambletonian,  a  son  of  imported  Messenger,  and  that  the  grandam 
was  also,  probably,  by  a  son  of  Messenger.  By  recurring,  also,  to  the 
pedigree  of  Norman,  as  rendered  in  the  Trotting  Register^  it  will  be 
seen  that  he  is  credited  with  a  grandam  by  Bishop's  Hambletonian, 
and  this  will  give  Norman  three  direct  crosses  of  Messenger  blood; 
and  the  dams  of  Blackwood  and  Swio;ert  adding'  two  additional  crosses 
of  that  blood,  all  immediate  and  direct,  would  present  a  concentra- 
tion of  that  blood  which  we  should  look  for  in  the  characteristics  and 
blood  traits  of  the  two  horses  under  consideration,  and  we  look  not  in 
vain.  In  no  family  in  this  country  are  there  found  so  many  traces  of 
the  form,  type  and  outward  characteristics,  as  well  as  the  nerve  traits 
of  imported  Messenger,  as  we  have  learned  those  traits  by  tradition 
and  the  members  of  the  family  that  have  come  down  to  us.  Lay 
your  hand  on  the  level  but  thick  and  firm  withers  or  shoulders,  and 
you  find  Messenger — the  shoulderblades  coming  to  the  top  of  the 
withers,  and  seeming  to  be  one  and  indistinguishable.  Head,  fore- 
head and  brain,  all  of  the  Messenger  type;  body  and  barrel,  rump, 
croup  and  tail  after  the  same  model;  the  whirlbone  sits  high,  and  the 
rump  does  not  droop;  the  breast  and  neck  and  shoulder  have  all  the 
compact  form  of  Messenger,  and  the  entire  hindquarter,  save  the  long 
thigh  and  the  slender  gaskin,  which  are  not  Messenger,  and  in  this 
particular  the  Messenger  model  has  been  entirely  overcome. 

The  so-called  imported  horse  is  found  in  the  defective  foreleg 
anatomy.  It  will  be  kept  in  mind  that  this  imported  horse  was  in  the 
highest  state  of  preservation  in  all  respects  save  his  forelegs.  He  was 
evidently  aged — fifteen  to  twenty   years  old — ^yet  a  trotter  equal  to 


482  BLACKWOOD    AND   SWIGERT. 

three  minutes,  as  estimated  by  those  who  chronicle  him,  and  a  show- 
horse  every  inch.  But  his  forelegs  were  used  up.  I  am  compelled  to 
say  that  the  front  legs  of  the  Swigert  family  are  not  such  as  I  like,  and 
they  are  the  weak  point  in  the  family.  I  know  of  some  complaint  on 
that  score,  and  it  should  be  kept  in  mind  in  breeding.  A  mare  with 
weak  front  legs  or  shaky  cannons  should  not  be  sent  to  Swigert. 

A  defective  piece  of  machinery  wears  out  sooner  than  one  that  is 
properly  constructed  and  performs  less  work.  The  race  horse  Henry 
gave  out  in  his  forelegs  at  the  age  of  six  years;  and  the  American 
Star  family  acquired  their  game  legs  by  honest  inheritance.  These 
Stars  all  had  what  is  popularly  called  knee-action.  A  fifteen-hand 
horse,  with  a  front  cannon  11^,  and  a  forearm  18| — mark  the  measure 
— such  was  the  Star  horse.  A  short  forearm  and  a  long  cannon,  and 
the  result  was  they  lifted  their  knees  and  pounded  hard  when  they 
struck  the  ground;  the  feet  and  legs,  not  of  the  best  to  begin  with, 
pounded  to  pieces  in  short  order.  A  horse  that  is  so  constructed  will 
not  throw  his  feet  out  in  front,  but  he  will  chop  or  strike  the  ground 
very  hard.  I  have  not  seen  one  horse  of  like  proportion  that  did 
not  strike  hard.  Fullerton  does  it,  and  so  did  Smuggler.  That 
this  family  have  most  likely  inherited  this  foreleg  peculiarity  from 
the  sire  of  the  Morse  Horse,  I  regard  one  of  the  reasonable  deduc- 
tions from  experience  and  common  observation,  aided  by  our  positive 
knowledge  that  the  other  elements  that  form  so  much  of  the  character 
and  make  up  of  these  animals  were  totally  different  in  respect  to  the 
point  specially  under  consideration. 

It  is  useless  to  indulge  in  any  surmise  as  to  the  possible  blood  or 
composition  of  this  so-called  imported  horse.  Such  he  may  have 
been,  and  such  he  may  not  have  been.  He  was  a  horse  of  positive 
excellence  of  character,  and  one  whose  blood  elements  fused  or  har- 
monized well  and  completely  with  the  rich  veins  of  Messenger  blood, 
with  which  he  was  crossed  in  the  successive  generations  that  have 
left  us  Blackwood,  Swigert,  Lula  and  May  Queen,  That  he  was  him- 
self a  grandson  of  imported  Messenger  is  quite  as  probable  as  any 
part  of  the  legend  that  he  was  imported  from  France. 

I  must  not  close  this  chapter  without  calling  the  attention  of  my 
readers  to  the  important  place  the  blood  of  these  two  stallions  is  to 
fill  in  the  future  of  our  American  trotters.  The  high  trotting  character 
'of  the  Mambrino  Chief,  or  Duroc-Messenger  family,  has  found  ready 
appreciation  in  the  estimate  of  many  who  were  yet  deterred  from 
resorting  to  it  from  what  sometimes  appears  to  be  a  lacJc  of  quality. 


BLACKWOOD   AS   A   SIRE.  483 

In  the  blood  of  these  two  stallions  is  found  all  the  ti'otting  force 
and  ready  adaptation  of  the  Duroc- Messenger  elements,  I  may  say, 
intensely  enriched  by  the  direct,  immediate  and  unrivaled  richness  of 
so  many  currents  of  the  blood  of  Messenger. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  regarded  as  exaggerative  in  any  regard,  but 
when  I  discover  in  a  family  what  does  not  come  up  to  my  standard  of 
excellence,  I  call  it  by  the  plain  term  of  faulty,  and  when  I  discover 
those  qualities  which  are  rich  in  all  that  constitutes  our  American 
trotter,  I  as  plainly  and  positively  pronounce  in  their  favor.  These 
stallions  far  surpass  their  sire,  the  horse  Norman.  He  lacked  the  ex- 
cellences of  the  Mambrino  Chief  strain,  but  carried  with  him  enough 
of  the  pure  currents  of  the  Messenger  blood  to  purify  and,  perhaps, 
to  eradicate  the  tainted  and  infectious  tendencies  which  the  Mambrino 
Chief  blood  had  derived  from  Duroc.  This  addition,  however,  of  that 
element,  enables  Blackwood  and  Swigert  to  impress  trotting  tenden- 
cies far  more  strongly  on  highly  bred  and  non-trotting  organisms  than 
Norman  could  have  done.  But  another  reason  for  their  superiority 
over  him  is  found  in  the  reunion  of  so  many  valuable  strains  of  this 
marvelous  blood  of  old  Messenger. 

The  Mambrino  Chief,  or  Duroc-Messenger  sires,  have  not  attained 
the  success  with  the  highly  bred  Abdallah  or  Hambletonian  dams 
which  has  attended  the  reverse  order  of  breeding.  My  preference 
will  still  be  for  the  same  system  in  breeding,  although  I  think  I  should 
send  an  Abdallah  or  a  Hambletonian  mare,  if  highly  bred  (and  not 
coming  through  the  Star  family),  to  Blackwood,  with  the  highest 
expectations  of  satisfactory  results.  I  can  only  add,  that  I  look 
forward  to  the  reunion  of  the  blood  of  Messenger  through  these 
channels  with  confidence  that  the  standard  of  our  American  trotter 
will  thereby  be  elevated  and  advanced. 

BLACKWOOD    AS    A    SIRE. 

Blackwood  has  been  a  very  successful  stallion,  and  has  fully  justi- 
fied the  high  expectations  that  were  entertained  of  him  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  career.  He  is  the  sire  of  Blackwood  Jr.,  with  record  of 
2:32^,  and  sixteen  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Protine,  2:24^,  and  eight 
heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Rosewood,  2:27,  and  three  heats  in  2:30  or 
better;  and  Wildwood,  2:30. 

Blackwood  Jr.  has  been  one  of  the  most  prominent  trotters  on  the 
trotting  turf  for  the  past  two  years.  He  beat  Governor  Sprague,  for 
the  Centennial  cup,  in  187G,  and  was  the  close  competitor  of  Thorn- 
dale  for  the  championship  of  1B77,  but  was  beaten  by  the  latter. 


484  BLACKWOOD   AND   SWIGERT. 

I  have  seen  a  statement  made  in  Kentucky,  having  reference  to  the 
stud  service  of  Blackwood  there,  before  he  was  purchased  by  Mr. 
Durkee,  that  out  of  ten  of  his  produce  when  he  was  three  and  four 
years  old,  which  have  been  handled  for  speed,  six  became  winners. 

It  is  believed  he  has  other  progeny  that  will  surpass  any  of  those 
now  before  the  public,  unless  it  be  Protine. 

SONS    OF    BLACKWOOD, 

Blackwood  Jr.  Black  stallion,  foaled  1871;  dam  Belle  Sheridan, 
by  Blood's  Blackhawk;  second  dam  by  Moreland's  Highlander;  third 
dam  by  Virginia  Whip.  Owned  by  A.  H,  McKimmin,  Nashville, 
Tennessee.     Winner  of  the  National  cup  at  the  Centennial. 

Freshman.  Bay  stallion,  foaled  1871.  Dam  by  Alexander's  Ed- 
win Forrest;  second  dam  by  Tarleton;  third  dam  by  imported  Buz- 
zard.    Record  as  a  four-year-old,  2:36^.     Owned  by  H.  Durkee,  Esq. 

Goodwood.  A  large,  brown  stallion,  foaled  1873.  A  colt  of  great 
conformation,  and  valued  by  his  owner  equally  with  Blackwood. 
Dam  the  dam  of  Lula,  by  imported  Hooton;  second 'dam  by  Texas; 
third  dam  by  Conn's  Sir  William.  Owned  by  H.  Durkee,  Esq.,  New 
York. 

Brownwood.  Brown  stallion,  foaled  1871.  Dam  Mambrino  Belle, 
by  McDonald's  Mambrino;  second  dam  Belle  Sheridan,  by  Blood's 
Blackhawk,  the  dam  of  Blackwood  Jr.  This  is  a  horse  of  magnifi- 
cent leverage,  derived  from  his  dam,  her  sire  being  a  son  of  Big  Nora, 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Caudle.  He  is  owned  by  Dr.  H.  P.  Strong,  of 
Beloit,  Wisconsin. 

]3lackwood  Chief.  Brown  stallion,  foaled  1873.  Dam  Fayette 
Belle,  by  Mambrino  Chief,  and  she  was  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Bertie; 
second  dam  Young  Flaxy,  by  Telegraph.     Owned  at  Peru,  Illinois^ 

Ink  Blackwood.  Black  stallion,  foaled  1873.  Dam  Lady 
McMann,  the  dam  of  Bella,  by  Jupiter;  second  dam  Lady  Sandford, 
dam  of  Jay  Gould,  by  American  Star;  third  dam  by  Exton  Eclipse. 
Owned  at  Rome,  New  York. 

McMann.  Brown  stallion,  foaled  1873,  and  full  brother  to  Ink 
Blackwood.     Owned  by  H.  Durkee. 

SWIGERT   AS   A    SIRE. 

Swigert  has  been  a  very  successful  stallion.  His  owner  is  a  large 
breeder,  and  has  for  a  long  period  been  engaged  in  breeding  horses 
in  Racine  county,  Wisconsin.  He  was  several  years  since  the  owner 
of  a  son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher,  which  was  bred  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 


SWIGERT   AS    A   SIRE.  485 

and  was  at  first  claimed  to  be  a  son  of  Ohio  Bellfounder — hence  he 
was  called  Bellfounder,  and  finally  Richard's  Bellfounder.  He  left 
a  large  progeny  in  Wisconsin,  and  his  daughters  are  most  valuable 
brood  mares.  Goldsmith's  Abdallah,  son  of  Volunteer,  was  also 
located  at  Racine  for  a  period,  and  left  a  valuable  produce,  many  of 
them  from  these  Blucher  mares  ;  hence  Swigert  was  located  in  a 
region  where  he  had  a  large  number  of  excellent  mares  with  which 
to  establish  a  reputation.  His  produce  all  show  an  early  and  natural 
adaptation  to  the  trotting  gait.  Resolute,  when  six  years  old,  trotted 
in  2:34;  Fayette,  at  six,  trotted  in  2:35;  Whitewater  Belle,  at  seven, 
trotted  in  2:34;  Rosabella,  at  four  years  old,  trotted  in  2:44,  and  speeded 
a  quarter  at  the  rate  of  2:34;  Baybrino,  at  five  years  old,  trotted  a 
quarter  at  the  rate  of  2:30;  the  Beale  Mare,  owned  in  Milwaukee 
has  trotted  in  2:38  as  a  six-year-old;  Racine  Maid,  owned  by  A.  P.  But- 
ton, trotted  a  quarter  in  37,  half  in  1:19,  and  a  full  mile  in  2:40^, 
before  she  was  four  years  old;  Jannette,  a  black  filly,  dam  by  Eureka, 
when  three  years  old,  trotted  a  quarter  at  rate  of  2:50;  Stella,  dam  a 
thoroughbred — Puss  Ferris,  by  Wagner — at  four  years  old,  trotted  in 
2:46. 

I  may  say  that  Swigert  was  not  handled  until  he  was  ten  years  old, 
and  at  eleven  he  was  exhibited  at  the  Wisconsin  State  Fair,  and 
trotted  a  mile  in  2:30,  a  half  in  1:13.  He  now,  in  the  month  of  June, 
1878,  weighs  1,230  lbs. 

SONS    OP    SWIGERT. 

OrAL  is  a  black  stallion,  foaled  in  1870;  dam  by  Hungerford's 
Blucher;  bred  and  owned  by  Geo.  D.  Doubleday,  of  Whitewater, 
Wisconsin. 

GovERN^OR  Hayes.  Brown  stallion,  foaled  1870;  dam  by  son  of 
Hungerford's  Blucher.  Bred  and  owned  by  Wm.  Pierce,  Racine 
county,  Wis.     He  has  trotted  in  2:31  at  six  years  old. 

Dixie.  Brown  stallion,  foaled  1870;  dam  by  son  of  Hungerford's 
Blucher.  Bred  by  Jas.  Reynolds,  of  Milwaukee.  Has  record  of  2:34, 
and  has  trotted  one  or  more  campaigns. 

Richard  R.  Black  stallion,  foaled  1870;  dam  by  Vermont  Boy, 
son  of  Vermont  Blackhawk.  Bred  bv  Edward  D.  Davis,  Racine 
Wis.;  owned  by  R.  Barden,  St.  Paul,  Minn.  He  trotted  in  2:36 
before  he  was  five  years  old. 

Ruciiiel;  owned  by  A.  F.  Phillips,  of  Rockford,  III;  dam  Vir- 
ginia, by  Goldsmith's  Abdallah;  second  dam   by  son  of  Hungerfoi'd's 


486  BLACKWOOD   AND   SWIGERT. 

Blucher.  A  full  brother  of  this  horse  is  owned  at  Flint,  Mich.,  by 
Foster  and  Goodwill. 

SwiGERT,  a  brown  colt,  foaled  1876;  dam  by  Goldsmith's  Abdallah; 
second  dam  by  son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher;  is  owned  by  Gilbert 
Adams,  of  Racine  county,  Wis.,  and  is  a  very  promising  colt,  referred 
to  at  the  close  of  Chapter  II. 

Robinson  is  a  brown  stallion,  owned  by  Mr.  Wood,  I^a  Crosse, 
Wis.  His  dam  was  by  Whitestockings,  a  grandson  of  Hungerford's 
Blucher.  A  good  trotter  at  four  years  old,  and  trotted  quarters  in  35 
seconds. 

Vero  is  one  of  the  very  promising  sons  of  Swigert;  foaled  1875; 
dam  Lady  Jane,  by  Goldsmith's  Abdallah;  second  dam  Dollabella,  by 
son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher.  He  is  owned  by  George  W.  Graves, 
of  Rochester,  Minn. 

Another  son  of  Swigert,  foaled  1875,  owned  by  Thos.  Rowlands,  of 
Genesee,  Wis.;  dam  Lady  Belle,  by  son  of  Hungerford's  Blucher; 
second  dam  the  thoroughbred  mare,  Mary  Bird,  by  imp.  Mickey  Free. 

DON    CARLOS. 

Besides  the  foregoing  distinguished  stallions,  Norman  left  another 
son,  named  Don  Carlos;  a  dark  bay  stallion,  foaled  1870.  Dam  Ella 
Jackson,  by  Ewalt's  Abdallah,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah.  He  is 
owned  by  Geo.  N.  Ferguson  &  Son,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  I 
find  an  item  in  a  turf  journal  giving  a  report  of  a  private  trial  at 
Fleetwood  Park,  when  he  was  seven  years  old.  It  is  described  as  a 
racing-like  trial  of  three  heats,  without  a  skip  or  break,  in  2:29^,  2:27-j, 
and  2:291^;  also  that  on  another  occasion  he  trotted  a  half  mile  in 
1:10^.  He  is  described  as  a  dark  bay,  upward  of  sixteen  hands  high. 
He  is  scarcely  known  to  the  public,  but  his  breeding  should  commend 
him  to  favorable  consideration.  I  have  never  seen  this  stallion,  but 
assuming  that  he  is  correctly  represented  in  the  pedigree  and  descrip- 
tion above  set  forth,  I  should  incline  to  the  opinion  that  he  is  a  valu- 
able stallion.  He  will  differ  widely  from  the  two  foregoing  stallions 
in  that  he  will  be  totally  lacking  in  the  Duroc- Messenger  characteris- 
tics. The  union  presented  in  him  will  be  watched  with  interest,  and 
should  he  fail  as  a  stallion,  it  will  be  still  more  suggestive  of  the 
remarkable  qualities  of  that  Duroc-Messenger  combination  that  affords 
a  ready  and  fertile  field  for  every  good  sire. 


CITAPTEE  XXY. 

PILOT  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS. 

In  attempting  to  give  the  origin  of  Pilot,  the  Canadian  Pacer,  we 
are  carried  back  to  the  earliest  period  of  American  history.  The 
horse  was  not  one  of  the  aborigines  of  this  continent.  Soon  after  the 
discovery  by  Columbus,  horses  were  introduced  in  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican countries,  and  in  the  ever  varying  vicissitudes  of  the  Spanish 
conquest  large  numbers  of  both  sexes  must  have  escaped  to  the  wild 
and  fertile  regions  of  the  tropical  plains  of  South  America  and  Mex- 
ico, from  which  the  wild  horses  so  abundant  in  those  regions  have 
descended.  In  the  year  1604,  M.  L'Escarbot,  a  French  lawyer, 
brought  a  large  importation  of  horses  and  other  domestic  animals  to 
Acadia,  and  subsequently,  in  1G08,  the  French,  extending  their  colo- 
nization to  the  region  of  Canada,  brought  horses  to  the  country  bor- 
dering the  St.  Lawrence. 

These  horses  at  that  date  took  the  name, of  French  horses,  and  the 
designation  follows  them  to  the  present  day.  That  they  were  anciently 
from  the  same  stock  whence  descended  the  Percheron  or  Norman 
stock  is  understood  by  all  who  have  made  any  efforts  to  trace  their 
origin,  and  this  carries  us  back  to  the  early  introduction  of  the  blood 
horse  into  France.  That  he  was  in  part  of  the  blood  of  the  Andalu- 
sian  horse  which  came  with  the  Saracen  conquest  of  Spain,  along  with 
the  Moor  from  Barbary  and  the  North  of  Africa  is  also  a  matter  of 
history,  but  after  the  Conquest,  the  Barb,  thus  introduced,  found  in 
France  and  Spain,  in  the  horses  that  preceded  the  Saracen  conquest, 
abundant  elements  of  kindred  blood,  the  same  pure  strains  of  Bar- 
bary and  Arabia,  that  the  Carthagenians  in  their  wars  of  conquest 
under  the  great  Hannibal  had  introduced  from  the  same  deserts  of 
Numidia  and  Barbary. 

Hannibal,  at  the  head  of  a  vast  army,  embracing  nearly  ten  thousand 
cavalry,  all  of  them  of  the  blood  of  the  desert,  and  mostly,  doubtless, 
stallions,  traversed  that  part  of  Europe    from    Spain    to  Italy.     The 

(487) 


488  PILOT   AND   HIS   DESCENDANTS. 

influence  of  this  invasion  upon  the  horse  stock  of  subsequent  centuries 
may  be  estimated  by  supposing  that  the  Moslem  power  of  to-day 
should  traverse  Europe  from  Constantinople  to  Moscow,  to  Berlin  and 
Paris,  with  ten  thousand  Arab  and  Barb  cavalry,  mostly  stallions^ 
and  leave  by  the  wayside  only  the  aged,  the  infirm,  and  those  maimed 
or  crippled  by  the  mishaps  of  war.  The  blood  of  the  European  horses 
would  show  the  results  of  the  invasion  centuries  after  every  other  mon- 
ument recording  the  event  had  passed  away.  The  footprints  of  the 
invader  would  pass  away  and  become  obliterated  before  the  advancing 
civilization  of  a  superior  race,  but  the  blood  of  the  Arab  steeds  would 
never  totally  disappear. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  French  horse,  and  in  that  remote  germ, 
we  recognize  the  antecedent  of  the  so-called  French  Canadian  of 
to-day. 

A  climate  of  severity,  and  ill-usage,  have  not  tended  to  develop 
them  in  size  or  fineness  of  quality,  but  the  original  traits  of  docility, 
hardiness  and  speed  have  been  transmitted  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. The  hair  has  grown  coarser,  the  manes  and  tails  heavy  and 
displaying  a  peculiar  curly  or  wavy  and  long  flowing  fullness,  while 
the  legs  have  come  to  display  a  shaggy  growth  at  the  fetlock,  giving- 
the  appearance  of  hardiness  and  adaptation  to  long  and  severe  winters, 
which  have,  in  great  part,  stunted  and  impoverished  the  fare  on  which 
they  have  subsisted  for  so  long  a  period. 

The  characteristics  of  this  race  were  seen  in  Pilot,  in  perfection. 
He  was  a  black  stallion,  under  fifteen  hands  in  height.  He  had  a 
plain  head — not  in  any  sense  a  coarse  one,  a  neck  of  fair  length,  but 
thick  and  somewhat  heavy  about  the  throat  and  windpipe.  His  mane 
was  coarse,  heavy  and  long,  and  of  that  wavy  curl  which  characterizes 
the  true  French  Canadian.  His  tail  was  of  the  same  quality.  He 
was  closely  built,  possessing  an  exceedingly  muscular  conformation  in 
every  part — a  sloping  rump — the  reverse  of  the  goose  rump  so  com- 
mon in  other  families.  He  Avas  long  in  his  quarters,  and  his  hock  was 
low  down.  He  possessed  a  vigorous  constitution  and  a  very  earnest, 
positive  temperament — qualities  which  he  transmitted  to  his  own  off- 
spring, and  which  his  descendants  possess  and  transmit  in  great  force. 
He  was  a  horse  of  cast-iro)i  materials,  and  not  in  any  sense  one  of  the 
handhox  variety. 

He  had  come  from  a  stock  that  knew  hard  usage,  and  to  him 
hafd  knocks  were  the  fare  on  which  he  had  been  reared.  Though  a 
small  horse  he  had  great  power,  both  to  carry  weight  and  to  endure 


PILOT   THE   PACER,  489^ 

long  distance.  He  could  pace  a  mile  in  2:26,  and  carry  a  man  that 
weighed  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds  on  his  back.  He  was  first, 
known  at 'New  Orleans  where  he  was  found  in  the  hands  of  a  peddler, 
and  was  purchased  for  $1,000  by  Major  O.  Dubois.  This  was  about 
the  year  1832,  and  he  was  then  called  six  years  old.  He  was  soon 
afterward  sold  to  D.  Heinshon,  Esq.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  was 
kept  in  that  State  until  his  death  in  1855.  His  location  was  a  fortu- 
nate one,  for  as  it  was  found  that  he  crossed  well  with  anything-  and 
everything,  he  there  had  more  varied  opportunities  than  could  have 
been  found  elsewhere.  He  came  upon  the  stage  when  Kentucky 
abounded  in  thoroughbreds,  and,  in  addition,  the  best  saddle  horses  of 
America,  and  when  attention  was  beginning  also  to  turn  toward  the^ 
roadster  as  a  drivina;  horse.  His  immediate  descendants  found  the 
taste  for  the  latter  in  the  course  of  full  development. 

The  crossing  of  his  blood  with  that  of  the  other  pacers  then  in' 
Kentucky  and  adjacent  regions,  with  the  saddle  stock  descended 
from  the  varied  sources  then  existing  in  that  State,  and  particularly 
with  mares  having  one  or  several  crosses  of  the  thoroughbred,  and 
with  those  of  the  common  stock  whose  origin  was  utterly  unknown,, 
gave  such  evidences  of  success  that  he  must  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  remarkably  impressive  sires  that  ever  appeared  in  this  coun- 
try; and  it  may  be  remarked  that  this  peculiar  trait  which  marked 
his  service  in  the  stud,  also  characterizes  the  blood  of  his  descend- 
ants, in  whatever  combination  it  may  be  found.  It  suits  well  with 
everything,  and  every  blood  seems  to  cross  well  with  it.  It  does  not 
seem  to  be  an  element  that  stands  in  the  way  anywhere;  it  fuses  and 
harmonizes  with  any  and  all.  It  is  true  it  has  its  qualities  of  coarse-; 
ness,  and  it  carries  them  along  in  a  degree,  but  it  infuses  vigor  and 
hardiness  in  places  where  there  is  need  of  it,  and  some  such  there  are 
to  be  found  in  this  covintry  among  the  good  blood  as  well  as  those 
which  are  lacking  in  quality.  He  not  only  produced  fast  performers, 
but  his  sons  have  been  noted  for  the  quality  of  also  reproducing  the 
fast  elements  for  which  he  was  noted,  both  in  the  trotters  and  th6 
pacers. 

His  most  distinguished  sons  were  the  fast  pacers  Tecumseh,  Roan- 
oake,  and  Nigger  Baby,  and  the  trotter  Native;  and  as  sires,  the  stal- 
lions Pilot  Jr.,  Tom  Crowder,  Old  Tecumseh,  Ole  Bull,  Young's  Pilot, 
Taylor's  Pilot,  and  Chew's  Pilot.  Besides  the  above,  he  produced  a 
large  number  of  pacers  and  trotters  that  scattered  all  over  the  Union, 
and  are  found  in  pedigrees  of  many  horses  at  this  time.     Tecumseh, 


490  PILOT  AND   HIS   DESCENDANTS. 

the  chestnut  jreldincr,  paced  a  mile  by  the  record  in  2:20^;  and  Roan- 
oake,  a  roan  ij^elding,  made  a  record  as  pacer  of  2:21:|-.  Both  of  these 
were  noted  horses  on  the  turf. 

Tom  CK0wr)p:R  was  one  of  the  most  successful  stallions  among  the 
sons  of  Pilot.  His  dam  was  Polly  Hopkins,  a  well  bred  mare  by 
Slasham,  he  by  Comet,  by  Blackburn's  AVhip,  and  her  dam  was 
also  by  Whip.  He  could  pace  in  2:30,  and  produced  the  stal- 
lions Tom  Wonder,  a  pacer,  from  a  mare  by  Woodpecker,  with 
record  of  2:18;  Daniel  Boone,  out  of  a  mare  by  Copperbottom, 
and  he  was  a  fast  pacer;  also  another  Tom  Crowder,  2:33^;  and 
another  of  same  name  that  produced  the  trotter  Marion,  2:23^, 
and  nine  heats  in  2:30.  He  was  also  sire  of  Bay  Sally  that 
paced  in  2:22,  and  twelve  heats  in  2:30.  He  was  also  sire  of  the  dani 
of  Doble.  Tom  Crowder  was  also  sire  of  Crazy  Nick,  the  sire  of 
Charles  W.  Woolley,  2:29,  and  three  heats  in  2:30;  and  John  W. 
Conley,  son  of  Tom  Wonder,  is  sire  of  Drvimmer  Boy,  a  trotter,  2:29^. 

The  stallion  Tom  Wojstder,  son  of  Tom  Crowder,  dam  by  Wood- 
pecker, was  a  horse  of  great  ability.  He  was  sire  of  the  trotters 
John  W.  Conley,  2:24,  and  seven  heats  in  2:30;  another  Tom  Won- 
der, 2:27,  and  John  Stewart,  a  long  distance  trotter.  His  dam  was  by 
Harris'  Hambletonian,  and  his  record  was  2:30,  and  he  trotted  ten 
miles  in  28:08^;  and  he  also  made  twenty  miles  to  wagon  in  59:23, 
best  time  for  wagon  on  record.  He  made  another  race  of  twenty  and 
one-half  miles  in  59:31|-,  best  time  on  record  for  the  distance.  Tom 
Wonder  was  a  grey  stallion,  about  15^  hands  high. 

Daniel  Boone  was  a  bay  stallion,  about  15^  hands  high,  a  very 
compact  and  powerful  horse,  and  a  superior  sire,  and  was  sire  of 
Cooley,  a  trotter,  2:26,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Ole  Bull  was  the  sire  of  Jim  Rockey,  a  trotter,  2:241,  with  forty- 
one  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

PILOT   .IK. 

Through  Pilot  Jr.  the  blood  of  the  black  Canadian  pacer  has  been 
rendered  a  substantial  and  popular  element  in  the  American  roadster 
and  trotting  horse.  He  was  a  gr(!y  horse,  and  was  foaled  in  1844:. 
His  dam  was  Nancy  Pope,  by  Havoc;  second  dam  Nancy  Taylor,  by 
Alfred,  son  of  imp.  Medley.  Havoc  was  by  Sir  Charles,  son  of  Sir 
Archy.     He  died  in  1865. 

I-  have  constantly  taught  the  doctrine  or  principle,  that  great  and 
marked  changes  in  type  and  character  must  be  accomplished  grad- 


PILOT   JR.  491 

ually;  that  the  union  of  two  diverse  and  nearly  foreign  bloods,  must 
be  reached  and  accomplished  by  gradual  approaches;  that  to  do  this, 
the  full  bloods  of  either  race  must  not  be  employed  when  intermedi- 
ate grades  are  within  reach.  It  was  by  such  a  process  that  the  blood 
of  Pilot  has  been  rendered  available  and  infused  into  the  best  of  our 
trotting  families.  The  dam  and  grandam  of  Pilot  Jr.  were  highly  bred 
but  part  bred  mares,  each  having  a  strong  infusion  of  road  or  trotting 
elements,  and  the  traces  of  racing  blood  were  much  weakened  thereby. 
By  such  means  Pilot  Jr.  became  a  horse  which  was  adapted  to  cross- 
ing on  mares  possessed  of  a  strong  infusion  of  racing  blood.  Pilot, 
the  original,  could  not  have  reached  such  mares  and  imparted  to  their 
progeny  as  strong  an  impress  of  his  own  qualities,  as  could  his  son, 
which  only  possessed  half  of  his  own  Canadian  character.  But 
Pilot  Jr.  met  all  such  on  the  breeder's  well  known  plane  of  consan- 
guinity, and  was  one  of  the  most  successful  sires,  with  mares  of  rac- 
ing blood,  that  we  have  ever  bred.  He  stands  first  on  the  record  in 
that  qualification. 

Pilot  Jr.  was  a  horse  full  lo|-  hands  high,  of  great  compactness 
and  high  quality.  He  showed  the  true  courage  and  spirit  of  a  great 
race  horse.  He  was  very  muscular  and  well  formed  all  over,  and 
showed  much  of  that  severe  positiveness  of  quality  and  character 
which  marked  the  descendants  of  Pilot  when  crossed  with  highly 
bred  mares.  He  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  stallions  ever  owned 
in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  his  sons  and  daughters  have  been 
highly  prized  both  on  the  turf  and  in  the  breeding  lists. 

He  was  sire  of  many  of  the  early  trotters,  and  his  sons  and 
daughters  have  been  distinguished  in  the  present  day  in  the  very  large 
list  of  fast  horses  they  present,  and  in  the  collateral  branches  they  have 
formed  by  union  with  other  families.  His  own  sons  show  records 
and  produce  as  follows:  Pilot  Temple,  2:24^,  the  veteran  of  many 
campaigns,  and  forty-four  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  also  the  mare 
Tackey,  2:26,  and  ten  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Queen  of  the  West, 
2:2Gi;  Tennessee,  2:40;  Gen.  Sherman,  2:28|;  Dixie,  2:30;  Black 
Pilot,  2:28f;  Bolly  Lewis,  2:29;  Ethelbert,  (2:29^*);  Volunteer, 
2:32i;  Bull  Run,  2:321;  Dudley,  2:32^;  Pilot  Mambrino,  2:35^; 
Hyman,  (2:28*),  2:37;  Grey  Dick,  2:39^;  Pilot  Hutchinson  (2:25*), 
2:40;  Roscoe,  sire  of  Black  Pilot,  2:31. 

His  daughter,  Santa  Maria,  was  dam  of  Hylas,  by  Alcalde,  dam  by 
Pilot  Jr.,  2:24^;  dam  also  of  Billy  Hoskins,  2:20^.  His  daughter 
Flora  (2:24*)  is   dam  of  Crittenden   (2:27*).     His  daughter  Water- 


492  PILOT   AND   niS   DESCENDANTS. 

witch,  dam  of  Mambrino  Gift,  2:20,  and  he  by  Mambrino  Pilot,  2:27-^, 
out  of  Juliet,  another  daughter.  Manibriuo  Pilot  is  sire  of  Hannis, 
2:19:1^,  Mambrino  Gift,  as  above  stated,  and  Morning,  2:30,  and  many 
others.     (The  asterisks  indicate  private  time,  not  of  record.) 

The  foregoing  hasty  retrospect,  however,  does  injustice  to  the  real 
greatness  of  Pilot  Jr.     He  was  the  sire  of 

WOODBURN    PILOT. 

Woodburn  Pilot  was  a  large  black  horse,  over  sixteen  hands  high. 
His  datn  was  a  grey  mare  by  Mambrino  Chief,  and  the  grandam  by  the 
old  Indiana  pacing  stallion  Redbuck,  son  of  Copperbottom.  He  was 
a  horse  of  immense  substance  and  powerful  trotting  action.  He  was 
foaled  the  property  of  E.  S.  Wadsworth,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  and  was 
sold  by  him  for  $10,000,  at  six  years  of  age,  to  the  Vermont  Horse 
Stock  Comj^any. 

He  was  able  to  trot  in  2:28,  but  kept  constantly  in  the  stud,  where 
if  he  had  had  proper  selection  of  mares  he  would  have  proved  a  great 
success. 

His  son  Argonaut  will  not  lower  the  standard  of  the  family  in 
all  probability — from  present  indications-^but  he  must  tell  his  own 
story. 

ARGONAUT. 

He  is  a  dark  bay  stallion,  foaled  in  1872.  His  dam  was  Minnie 
Clyde,  by  Toronto,  son  of  St.  Lawrence  ;  second  dam  was  the  sister  of 
Jim  Porter,  by  Downing's  Bay  Messenger;  third  dam  Madam  Porter, 
by  Roman's  Orphan  Boy;  fourth  dam  by  Bertrand ;  fifth  dam  by 
Sir  Archy.  Roman's  Orphan  Boy,  by  Orphan  Boy,  son  of  American 
Eclipse.  The  dam  of  Toronto  was  by  Cadmus,  the  thoroughbred  son 
of  Eclipse.  If  he  shall  fall  behind  the  first  stallion  of  his  family  he 
will  not  equal  the  expectations  of  those  who  know  him  best. 

TATTLER. 

I  have  referred  to  the  blood  composition  of  Pilot  Jr.,  and  the 
breeding  process  by  which  he  was  rendered  the  most  efficient  and 
impressive  sire  we  have  yet  seen  with  mares  of  racing  blood. 

Pilot  Jr.  was  the  sire  of  the  noted  trotter  Medoc  or  John  Morgan. 
His  dam  was  a  Duroc- Messenger  mare.  She  was  named  Croppy,  and 
■was  by  Medoc,  the  great  son  of  American  Eclipse,  her  dam  by  Rattler, 
her  second  dam  by  imp.  Spread  Eagle,  from  a  noted  mare  sent  by 
Chief  Justice  John  Marshall  into  Kentucky,  and  said  to  be  thorough- 


TATTLER   AND   VOLTAIRE.  493 

bred.  John  Morgan  trotted  to  a  record  of  2:24,  and  made  six  heats  in 
2:30.  I  now  recall  no  trotter  from  a  thoroughbred  mare  his  equal. 
But  the  greatness  of  Pilot  Jr.  had  still  a  greater  measure.  His  son 
Tattler  places  him  on  a  plane  never  yet  reached  by  another  trotting 
stallion. 

The  dam  of  Tattler  was  a  strictly  thoroughbred  mare.  She  was 
Telltale,  by  Telamon,  a  thoroughbred  son  of  Medoc,  dam  Flea,  by 
Medoc  ;  second  dam  Martha  Darneal,  by  Sumter ;  Arminda,  by 
Doublehead;  Dux,  by  imp.  Buzzard;  by  Columbus;  by  Wildair;  by 
Mark  Anthony;  by  Partner  ;  by  imp.  Traveller  ;  by  imp.  Jolly 
Roger. 

I  set  out  the  pedigree  in  full,  as  it  is  an  instance  which  has  no 
parallel  in  our  breeding  annals.  From  such  a  mare  Pilot  Jr.  produced 
Tattler,  a  dark  bay  stallion,  of  even  but  powerful  build,  smooth  and 
clean  cut,  and  looking  very  much  like  Alhambra  when  the  latter  was 
^ight  years  old. 

Tattler  is  owned  by  H.  N.  Smith,  Esq.,  at  the  Fashion  Stud  Farm, 
Trenton,  New  Jersey.  He  has  a  public  record  of  2:26,  and  is  the  sire 
of  a  stallion  and  a  trotter  which  to-day  stands  in  the  list  of  the  cham- 
pions of  the  American  trotting  turf.  Such  another  trotting  stallion 
from  a  thoroughbred  mare  we  have  not  yet  produced.  He  shows  all 
the  strength  and  quality  of  the  thoroughbred — has  the  strong  trotting 
character  and  form  of  Pilot  Jr.,  and  trotting  action  nowhere  sur- 
passed. Such  is  Tattler.  He  is  the  sire  of  Indianapolis,  record  2:31;^, 
and  a  private  trial,  2:25. 

VOLTAIRE. 

This  is  a  stallion  worthy  of  a  place  and  a  sketch  among  the  first 
of  his  race  and  the  ao-e  in  which  he  lives. 

He  is  owned  by  Wm.  H.  Peck,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  a 
gentleman  vrhom  I  first  met  on  Kentucky  soil,  and  one  whom  it  is  a 
delight  and  an  honor  to  meet  anywhere.  I  find  a  sketch  of  Voltaire 
in  a  public  print,  which,  with  slight  change,  I  here  reproduce  as 
part  of  my  notice  of  this  now  justly  celebrated  stallion: 

Voltaire  is  a  ten-year-old  dark  bay  stallion,  by  Tattler;  dam  Young  Portia, 
\)j  Mambrino  Chief;  second  dam  by  Roebuck;  third  dam  by  Whip.  He  is  a 
very  dark  bay,  with  no  white ;  stands  fifteen  and  a  half  hands  high,  a  horse 
of  great  substance  for  his  inches,  weighing  nearly  one  thousand  ou'e  hundred 
pounds,  in  good  road  condition.  He  is  upheaded,  goes  in  great  style,  and  is  a 
hard  one  to  whip  in  any  class.  Starting  in  June,  without  a  record,  he  met  and 
defeated  some  of  the  best  horses  on  the  turf,  winning  six  successive  victories, 


494  PILOT   AND  HIS   DESCENDANTS. 

without  a  defeat,  and  winding  up  his  trotting  season  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  at 
the  National  Breeders'  Meeting,  by  winning  tlie  2:20  stallion  purse,  beating 
such  good  ones  as  Blackwood  Jr.  and  Nil  Desperanduni,  and  lowering  his 
record  to  2:21i^. 

His  breeding  represents  three  trotting  crosses,  and  the  balance  thorough- 
bred  blood,  which  helps  to  account  for  his  wonderful  staying  qualities.  He 
has  beauty  of  form  and  color,  very  rapid  action,  line  disposition,  and  is  as 
garde  a  horse  "  as  ever  looked  through  a  bridle."  As  a  five-year-old  he  was 
started  in  one  race  which  was  won  by  the  then  famous  Clementine,  Voltaire's 
time  being  2:^i%-  As  a  six-year-old  he  did  not  appear  in  public,  but  in  his 
seven-year-old  form  he  trotted  two  races  in  one  week,  and  was  beaten  by  such 
horses  as  St.  Julien  and  Orient,  either  of  whom  could  trot  close  to  2:20.  He 
did  not  start  in  1876,  being  badly  handled,  and  made  his  first  appearance  ia 
1877  at  Mystic  Park,  Boston,  June  5,  in  the  2:50  class,  which  he  won  after  a 
hard-fought  contest  of  five  heats,  beating  Powers,  the  hitherto  invincible  son 
of  Volunteer,  and  gaining  a  record  of  2 :  24.  At  Beacon  Park,  Boston,  June 
12,  he  again  defeated  Powers  in  a  race  of  five  heats,  and  trotted  in  2 :  24.  At 
Granite  State  Park,  New  Hampshire,  June  19,  Voltaire  and  Powers  renewed 
the  struggle,  and  Powers  again  met  defeat,  after  a  five-heat  race,  Voltaire 
winning  the  last  three  heats.  August  28,  at  Charter  Oak  Park,  he  met  and 
defeated  such  horses  as  Honest  Harry,  Tom  Keeler,  Richard,  and  Alley, 
another  fast  son  of  Volunteer.  This  race  created  great  excitement,  and  was 
won  by  the  pluck  and  indomitable  courage  of  the  Hartford  stallion,  in  spite 
of  a  strong  combination  to  beat  him,  and  an  effort  to  break  down  his  sulky. 
This,  as  usual  for  Mm,  was  a  five-heat  contest,  but  it  was  in  reserve  for  him  to 
win  an  easy  victory  (the  first  of  the  season)  the  following  week,  at  Mystic 
Park,  which  he  did  in  three  straight  heats,  over  the  same  field  of  horses  as  at 
Hartford,  and  trotting  the  third  heat  in  2 :  24)^,  the  fastest  of  the  race.  His 
race  at  the  National  Breeders'  Association  Meeting,  at  Hartford,  was  won  in 
great  style,  trotting  the  last  three  heats  without  a  break,  lowering  his  record 
to  2:21)4;,  and  placing  himself  in  the  foremost  rank  of  trotting  stallions.  He 
has  now  the  fastest  record  in  the  State,  beating  Jefferson's  record  one  and 
three-quarters  seconds,  and  the  second  fastest  record  in  New  England,  the 
famous  Smuggler  standing  first. 

His  career  marks  him  as  one  of  the  most  successful  trotting  stal- 
lions that  have  ever  appeared  on  our  trotting  turf. 

In  the  progress  of  these  chai)ters  I  have  steadily  taught  the  lesson 
that  in  our  American  roadsters  and  trotting  horses  we  had  certain 
very  valuable  lines  of  trotting  blood,  and  had  reached  such  an  ad- 
vanced stage  of  breeding  as  to  render  it  unnecessary  and  unadvisable 
to  go  outside  these  elements  and  resort  to  any  new  strains  of  blood, 
however  attractive  they  may  be;  that  it  is  also  certainly  true  that  all 
excellence  for  trotting  purposes  does  not  belong  exclusively  to  one 
line  of  breeding.  I  have  also  shown  that  in  the  Messenger  family, 
closely  in-bred  and  in  certain  lines  of  racing  blood,  there  is  a  ten- 


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VOLTAIEE.  495 

dency  toward  a  retrograde  of  trotting  quality,  and  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  some  of  our  well  known  and  tried  crosses  to  reinforce 
the  trotting  quality  of  such  families. 

In  this  stallion  Voltaire  we  find  no  Abdallah  and  no  Bellfounder 
blood,  but  a  horse  of  commanding  size,  of  fine  form;  stamina  and 
endurance  in  the  highest  degree;  courage  and  tractability  which  noth- 
ing can  daunt  or  disconcert;  and  a  trotting  impulse  so  natural,  so 
absorbing,  so  powerful,  that  he  will  trot  through  three  consecutive 
heats  in  a  race  close  to  2:20,  without  a  single  skip  or  break.  With 
such  an  organism,  where  is  the  limit  to  his  capacity?  How  fast  can 
he  be  made  to  go?  That  is  a  problem  for  those  who  go  against,  rather 
than  those  who  go  with  him.  To  what  does  he  owe  his  greatness?  is 
the  question  of  value  and  interest  to  us,  as  students  in  the  school  of 
breeding  trotters. 

I  answer  the  question,  that  he  owes  it  to  two  important  elements, 
both  of  which  have  been  reached  as  we  have  reached  him — by  breed- 
ing processes.  Withdraw  either  of  these  and  his  greatness  is  impaired. 
Commencing  at  the  last  first — in  his  sire  we  have  successfully  com- 
bined the  blood  of  Pilot,  the  pacer,  the  Kanuck,  for  such  he  was, 
with  that  of  the  highly  bred  race  horse  of  pure  Arab  descent,  in 
such  manner  as  to  give  complete  and  perfect  harmony;  the  gallop- 
ing instincts  of  the  racer  are  completely  subordinated  to  the  trotting 
impulses  of  the  roadster.  Secondly,  another  element  is  attained 
in  the  union  of  the  blood  of  Duroc  and  of  Messenger  in  both  the  sire 
and  the  dam,  in  such  way  as  to  take  up,  appropriate  and  apply  all 
the  qvialities  of  speed  and  trotting  action  in  either  Pilot  or  the  racing 
crosses  which  enter  into  the  combination,  and  the  product  is  a  stal- 
lion of  the  most  positive  caste — a  trotter  almost  without  superiors 
and  with  few  equals.  That  he  will  prove  a  royal  trotting  sire,  is 
assured  by  all  the  renown  of  Pilot  Jr.,  by  the  success  of  Tattler,  and 
by  the  sovereign  richness  of  Mambrino  Chief,  and  the  now  illustrious 
train  that  acknowledge  descent  from  his  blood.  His  high  breeding, 
his  magnificent  form  and  exuberant  trotting  quality,  stamp  him  as  one 
of  the  triumphs  of  the  age. 

With  such  a  stallion  to  cross  on  the  highly  bred  mares  by  Idol  and 

Ashland,  on  the  Royal  Georges  from  Jefferson,  on  the  daughters  of 

Smuggler,  and  the  closely  bred  Hambletonians  and  Fearnaughts,  and 

the  more  advanced  and  highly  bred  descendants  of  the  Morgan  stock. 

New  England  will  make  an  advance  in  breeding  that  will  recall  all 

the  glories  of  the  richest  days  of  the  early  Messengers. 
32 


496  PILOT    AND   HIS   DESCENDANTS. 

Voltaire  now  stands  credited  with  a  record  of  2:21:^,  and  fifteen 
heats  in  2:30  or  better.  He  is  in  trotting  condition  now,  and  before 
the  close  of  1878  will  probably  have  oj^jjortunity  to  try  conclusions 
with  the  champion  of  1877,  and  the  defeated  stallion  in  that  contest 
will  carry  away  no  dishonor  from  having  appeared  against  an  unwor- 
thy opponent. 

The  successes  of  Pilot  Jr.  and  Mambrino  Chief  run  hand  in  hand. 
From  daughters  of  Pilot  Jr.,  Mambrino  Chief  achieved  some  of  his 
most  signal  successes,  more  particularly,  however,  when  with  the 
blood  of  Pilot  Jr.  there  were  also  comminjvled  strains  of  Duroc-Mes- 
senger  blood. 

Juliet  by  Pilot  Jr.  became  the  dam  of  Mambrino  Pilot,  and  I  have 
shoAvn  his  success,  and  that  of  his  son,  Mambrino  Gift,  from  another 
dauo-hter  of  Pilot  Jr. 

Another  davighter  was  the  dam  of  the  Mambrino  Chief  stallion, 
Alcalde,  a  successful  sire. 

Mambrino  Gift,  whose  dam  was  also  a  daughter  of  Pilot  Jr.,  was 
confessedly  one  of  the  best  trotting  stallions  this  country  has  ever 
produced.  His  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the  breeding  interests  of  the 
country,  and  along  with  Voltaire  would  have  furnished  an  outcross 
for  the  closely  bred  Hambletonian  and  other  Messenger  families  of 
very  great  and  positive  value. 

Kate,  the  grandam  of  Almont,  was  by  Pilot  Jr.,  and  the  power 
that  Almont  possesses  of  imparting  the  trotting  quality  to  the  pro- 
duce of  all  classes  of  mares,  and  particularly  those  that  are  thorough- 
bred and  descended  from  the  thoroughbred,  must  in  part  be  credited 
to  this  quality  inherited  from  Pilot  Jr. 

The  Hambletonian  blood  had  not  that  quality,  and  while  it  is  true 
that  it  was  displayed  by  JNIambrino  Chief  in  high  degree,  the  de- 
scendants of  the  black  pacer  seem  to  rival  any  that  we  have  seen 
in  respect  to  the  quality  referred  to.  Mambrino  Chief's  success  with 
such  mares  was  greatest  when  they  partook  of  his  own  lines  of  blood 
— Duroc  and  Messenger.  Pilot  Jr.  was  more  universal  in  his  success 
with  racing  mares  than  was  Mambrino  Chief. 

The  blood  of  Pilot  Jr.,  crossed  with  that  of  thoroughbred  mares, 
has  produced  the  fastest  trotters  and  the  fastest  trotting  sires  of  any 
thus  descended  that  we  have  seen  in  this  country.  In  such  union  it 
stands  ahead  of  all  others. 

Miss  Russell,  by  Pilot  Jr.,  from  a  thoroughbred  mare,  Sally  Russell, 
by  Boston,  is  the  dam  of  Nutwood,  by  Belmont,  that  stands  at  2:23^, 
and  is  the  best  one,  by  the  record,  that  Belmont  can  claim. 


CHAKACTERISTICfi   OF   PILOT   BLOOD.  497 

The  other  sons  of  Pilot  seemed  also  to  possess  this  quality  of 
impressing-  their  own  trotting  and  pacing  gaits  on  the  produce  of 
thorouo-hbred  mares.  The  son  of  Ole  Bull,  Jim  Rockev,  came  from  a 
mare  by  American  Eclipse,  said  to  be  thoroughbred.  The  grandam 
of  Crittenden  was  referred  to  in  my  chapter  on  Almont,  She  was  a 
thoroughbred  mare,  or  of  that  blood  so  far  as  her  pedigree  extended. 
She  produced  two  daughters,  one  from  Alexander's  Abdallah,  the 
great  son  of  Hambletonian,  and  sire  of  Goldsmith  Maid,  Thorndale 
and  Almont,  but  this  mare  was  of  no  particular  consequence  as  a 
trotter  or  dam  of  trotters.  The  blood  of  Hambletonian  did  not  find 
a  suitable  field  with  the  thoroughbreds;  but  the  same  mare  fi'om 
Pilot  Jr.  raised  the  mare  Flora,  that  trotted  in  2:24,  and  became  the 
dam  of  Crittenden  that  trotted  in  2:27. 

In  the  foregoing  sketch  relative  to  the  descendants  of  Pilot,  I  have 
been  greatly  aided  by  an  elaborate  series  of  articles  found  in  Dun- 
ton's  Spirit  of  the  Turf^  from  which  I  have  drawn  largely,  and  give 
the  time  both  of  record  and  that  not  of  record,  indicated  by  an 
asterisk  (*),  as  there  stated,  not  having  had  the  means  at  hand  of 
wholly  verifying  the  same. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  rapid  review,  that  the  blood  of  Pilot 
has  already  b'^en  widely  diffused  in  the  ranks  of  our  trotting  horses. 
The  very  fast  time  made  by  so  large  a  number,  and  the  various  strains 
of  other  blood  they  have  presented,  show  how  universal  has  been  the 
success  of  this  cross.  It  has  not  been  twenty-five  years  since  the 
death  of  Pilot,  yet  his  descendants  already  are  formed  into  many 
suljfamilies,  and  the  new  and  distinguished  trotters  that  are  yearly 
added  to  the  list,  always  find  some  representatives  of  the  black  pacer 
among  their  number. 

The  characteristics  of  the  Pilot  blood  are  quite  similar  to  those  of 
the  other  pacing  families  of  Canadian  descent.  They  all  show  cer- 
tain peculiarities  common  to  the  race.  They  are  extremely  hardy, 
and  generally  long  lived.  They  come  to  maturity  at  an  early  age. 
They  have  very  superior  feet,  in  fact,  no  family  of  horses  in  the  world 
surpass  them  for  the  toughness  of  the  hoofs  and  the  general  sound- 
ness of  their  feet.  They  cross  with  thoroughbred  and  other  highly 
"bred  strains,  and  in  the  union  exhibit  the  same  qualities  with  very 
great  uniformity.  They  do  not  incline  to  the  gallojDing  gait,  but 
readily  adopt  either  the  pacing  or  the  trotting  gaits.  Thev  exhibit 
the  same  tendency  to  increase  in  size  and  power  when  crossed  with 
other  highly  bred  families,  and  they  exhibit  all  the  elements  of  speed 


498  PILOT   AND   HIS   DESCENDANTS. 

in  high  degree.  The  foregoing  may  be  said  to  be  the  common  char- 
acteristics of  the  descendants  of  Columbus,  St.  Lawrence  and  Pilot. 
They  have  other  points  in  common.  They  have  a  little  too  much 
weight  and  thickness  in  the  neck  and  in  the  region  of  the  windpipe. 
They  are  usiially  rather  thick  in  the  jaws,  and  the  head  is  not  quite 
so  lean  and  bony  as  in  the  more  highly  bred  families.  Their  brain 
power  may  not  be  so  clear  and  steady  as  that  of  the  horse  descended 
from  the  blood  of  Messenger.  Some  of  them  have  not  displayed  the 
same  steadiness  and  desperate  courage,  that  high  nerve  and  mental 
quality  that  marks  the  real  blood  horse.  But  for  all  this,  they  are 
ready  and  free  drivers,  and  when  properly  handled,  they  are  bold  and 
courageous.  While,  perhaps,  lacking  in  some  of  the  higher  and  finer 
qualities  of  the  blood  horse,  they  are  nevertheless  a  very  vigorous 
and  valuable  outcross,  and  one  that  harmonizes  well  with  all  other 
bloods. 


CHAPTEE  XXYI. 

THE   MORGANS. 

If  there  ever  was  any  horse  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  having 
founded  a  family  and  imparted  to  them  the  strongest  possible  linea- 
ments of  form  and  character,  that  horse  was  Justin  Morgan.  The 
family  had  its  origin  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago.  It  became  the 
dominant  horse  of  New  England  for  a  third  of  a  century,  and  has 
been  prominent  in  numbers  and  popular  in  the  esteem  of  horsemen 
and  home  circles  in  more  than  half  of  the  States  of  this  Union. 
It  is  a  family  which  has  been  marked  by  greater  uniformity  in  form, 
character  and  general  utility  than  any  breed  of  horses  ever  known  in 
this  country.  While  in  their  original  and  pure  state  they  combined 
no  elements  of  real  greatness,  they  eml^raced  no  lines  of  inferiority 
— their  excellence,  if  only  mediocre,  was  universal. 

THEIR    PKOGENITOE. 

I   make   the   following   extracts  from    Linsley    on    the    Morgan 

Horses : 

The  different  accounts  that  have  been  circulated  in  regard  to  the  origin  of 
the  jNIorgan  breed  of  horses,  agree  that  they  are  descended  from  a  horse  called 
the  Justin  Morgan,  who  derived  his  name  from  Mr.  Justin  Morgan,  of  Ran- 
dolph, Vt.,  once  his  owner.  As  to  the  origin  of  the  Justin  Morgan,  however, 
they  differ  widely. 

The  fact  that  little  or  no  interest  was  felt  in  the  su1)ject  until  after  the  death 
of  Mr.  Morgan,  and  indeed  until  after  the  death  of  his  horse,  will  account  for 
this  diversity. 

Almost  half  a  century  passed  away  before  any  serious  effort  was  made  to 
determine  the  origin  of  an  animal,  whose  value  was  daily  more  and  more 
appreciated.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Morgan  the  horse  passed  through  several 
hands,  and  was  kept  at  different  places,  and  wlien  at  length  serious  inquiry 
was  awakened  on  the  subject,  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Morgan  had  left  no  written 
pedigree  of  his  horse,  and  different  reports  of  what  he  said  in  relation  to  it 
got  into  circulation. 

We  think  it  may  be  considered  as  certain,  that  during  Mr.  Morgan's  life  and 

(49i)j 


500  THE   MORGANS. 

until  long  after  his  cleatli,  very  little  interest  was  felt  in  the  question,  "  What 
was  the  exact  pedigree  of  the  horse  ? "  When  the  inquiry  became  interesting, 
and  discussion  arose,  different  stories  were  current,  and  opinions  were  fre- 
quently formed  in  accordance  witli  previous  prejudices  or  views  of  the  indi- 
vidual forming  them,  as  to  the  value  of  diflerent  breeds  of  horses.  Some, 
holding  the  opinion  that  no  valuable  horse  could  be  expected  without  a  great 
deal  of  racing  blood,  sought  to  make  it  appear  that  he  was  nearly  thorough- 
bred. Others  having  less  faith  in  the  English  racer,  entertained  different 
opinions,  and  adopted  for  their  creed  stories  that  ascribed  to  him  a  very  differ- 
ent origin.  No  person  seemed  to  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  investigate  it 
thoroughly,  until  those  who  might  have  given  the  necessary  information  were 
gone. 

It  is  not  now  probable  that  the  blood  of  the  Justin  Morgan  can  ever  be 
exactly  and  absolutely  ascertained.  We  think,  however,  it  may  be  considered 
certain  that  this  unrivaled  animal  was  produced  by  a  cross  of  the  Arabian  or 
thoroughbred  with  the  common  stock,  but  the  proportion  of  each  can  not  now 
be  determined. 

There  are  no  opinions  that  men  maintain  so  strenuously,  and  give  up  so 
reluctantly,  as  those  which  they  form  and  publicly  avow  upon  matters  in  which 
they  are  supposed  by  others  to  be  particularly  well  informed.  This  is  more 
especially  true  when  these  opinions  entertained  and  expressed,  relate  to 
matters  of  practical  importance,  and  not  simply  to  some  abstract  doctrine. 

From  all  the  evidences  which  have  been  advanced  with  regard 
to  the  question  of  the  breeding  or  origin  of  this  horse,  I  think  we 
are  reasonably  safe  in  the  following  summary :  He  was  foaled  in 
1793,  at  or  near  Spririgfield,  Massachusetts,  and  his  sire  was  True 
Briton^  or  Beautiful  Bay^  a  horse  owned  by  Sealy  Norton,  of  East 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  then  kept  by  John  Morgan,  at  West 
Springfield,  Mass. 

Mr.  Wallace,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Trotting  JRegister,  gives  the 
pedigree  and  speaks  as  follows  : 

Justin  Mokgan,  b.  h.,  foaled  1793  ;  got  by  True  Briton  ;  also  called 
"  Beautiful  Bay,"  that  was  advertised  at  East  Hartford,  1791.  The  advertise- 
ment says  "his  sire  was  the  imported  horse  Traveller,  owned  in  New 
Jersey;  his  dam  Delancy's  imp.  racer."  Imported  Traveller  never  was  in 
New  Jersej',  but  his  son,  Lloyd's  Traveller,  2561,  of  the  Stud  Book,  was 
owned  there,  and  was  doubtless  the  horse  intended.  Delancy  imported  several 
mares  that  ran,  but  there  are  no  means  of  determining  which  one  is  referred 
to.  The  presumption  is  very  plain  that  True  Briton  or  Beautiful  Bay  was 
thoroughbred.  The  dam  of  Justin  Morgan  was  represented  to  be  of  the 
"  Wildair  breed."  A  grandson  of  imp.  Wildair,  bearing  his  name,  stood  in 
that  vicinity,  1780,  and  subsequent  years.  His  pedigree  is  not  given  in  his 
advertisement  farther  than  is  here  indicated.  Other  authorities  say  the  mare 
in  question  was  a  daughter  of  the  Lindsey  Arabian,  but  she  was  more  probably 
a  granddaughter,  as  Lindsey  Arabian,  or  Ranger,   as  then  called,   was  not 


THE   MORGAN    AND    CANADIAN.  501 

aclrcrti3?d  in  Hartford  later  than  1775.  Soou  after  this  period  he  was  taken 
to  Maryland.  There  is  a  strong  probability  that  some  of  the  blood  of  this 
famous  Arabian  flows  in  the  veins  of  the  Morgan  family.  But  whether  this 
theory  be  correct  or  not,  he  evidently  possessed  a  large  share  of  good  blood, 
as  his  progeny  so  uniformly  partook  of  certain  fixed  characteristics  which 
were  his  own.  He  was  the  founder  of  that  particular  race  which,  for  so  many 
years  were  sought  for  at  high  prices  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  which 
made  their  breeders  rich.  Bred  in  Springfield,  Mass. ;  bought  by  Justin 
Morgan,  1795  (then  two  years  old),  and  taken  to  Randolph,  Vt.  Died  in  the 
winter  of  1821,  near  Chelsea,  Vt. 

These  were  statements  made  by  those  who  gave  the  subject  atten- 
tion in  the  early  days  of  investigation  in  reference  to  the  matter,  but 
it  must  be  observed  that  great  allowance  must  be  made  with  regard 
to  all  the  information  we  have  on  the  subject.  By  some  it  was  at  an 
early  day  suggested  that  Morgan  was  a  Canadian,  and  much  has  been 
said  in  support  and  in  refutation  of  that  suggestion.  The  points  of 
similarity  and  of  dissimilarity  between  the  Morgan  and  the  Canadian 
have  been  presented,  and  we  may  derive  some  instruction  from  a  review 
of  them.     I  quote  from  Linsley's  book,  as  follows: 

The  broad,  courageous-looking  head,  with  ears  far  apart,  thick  neck,  with 
general  stoutness  of  frame,  full  breast  and  strong  shoulder,  with  a  round  or 
fleshy  croup ;  the  low-set  muscles  and  large  sinews,  with  those  tough  feet  that 
know  not  disease,  are  distinguishing  marks  of  the  French  Canadian  horse. 

The  shagginess  or  abundance  of  hair  in  the  mane  and  tail  and  on  the  legs 
are  much  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  climate,  with  the  manner  of  rearing 
the  animals,  and  may  be  expected  in  a  great  measure  to  disappear  under  good 
cultivation,  long  before  the  innate  excellences  and  peculiarities  will  percep- 
tibly change. 

The  Morgan  horse  does  not  partake  of  all  these  marks  in  common  with  the 
Canadian.  The  clear,  and  deep-toned  bay  color,  too,  which  prevails  in  the 
Morgan,  is  rare  among  Canadian  horses.  It  occurs  in  individuals ;  but  unless 
characteristic  of  the  race  for  a  long  period  of  time,  it  could  hardly  be  sup- 
posed that  this  color  would  so  generally  occur  as  it  does  in  the  Morgan  horses 
of  the  present  day.  Peculiarities  produced  by  a  single  cross  are  apt  to  wear 
away  in  a  few  generations,  unless  maintained  by  careful  selection  on  the  part  of 
the  breeder.  If,  then  (supposing  the  Morgan  horse  to  have  come  from  Canada) 
his  color  was  an  accidental  variety,  it  would  not  have  so  generally  marked  his 
numerous  oflspring,  unless  great  pains  were  taken  to  preserve  it  by  selection, 
which  has  not  been  the  case.  It  appears  evident  from  the  prevalence  of  this 
color  through  several  successive  generations,  as  well  as  the  similar  descent  of 
various  qualities,  which  are  authenticated  as  having  belonged  to  the  first 
known  sire,  that  the  Morgan  horse,  whatever  may  have  been  his  origin,  was 
of  one  pure  stock ;  that  is,  that  he  was  not  cross-bred,  or  produced  by  the 
union  of  two  difl'erent  breeds,  for  in  that  case,  there  must  have  been  a  greater 
variety  in  his  progeny,  some  running  to  one  family,  and  some  to  the  other; 


502  THE   MORGANS. 

wiicreas  a  remarkable  similarity  is  known  to  prevail  in  all  of  tliis  race.  And 
here  we  may  notice  that  the  breeder  is  apt  to  find  an  essential  difference  in 
the  two  races ;  the  Morgan,  crossed  or  mixed  with  the  various  common  breeds, 
inclines  to  retain  its  peculiar  characteristics  and  its  small  size  in  the  offspring 
for  many  generations,  while  all  the  French  Canadian  races,  though  not  larger 
for  the  most  part  than  the  Morgan,  when  used  as  a  cross,  increase  the  size  of 
the  progeny,  and  frequently  assimilate  so  that  the  blood  can  only  be  recog- 
nized by  a  practiced  observer,  in  the  greater  development  and  robustness  of 
form,  and  the  courage,  spirit,  and  aptness  to  thrive,  which  are  commonly 
reckoned  as  constitutional  health. 

The  Morgans  differ  essentially  from  the  Canadian  horses  in  their  action  or 
mode  of  traveling.  A  Morgan  horse  glides  over  the  ground  eight  or  nine  miles 
an  hour,  with  such  easy  movements  of  his  legs,  that  one  would  think  they 
only  felt  relieved  when  so  employed;  the  Canadian,  if  he  has  speed,  seems  to 
go  by  main  strength,  everj^  stride  arising  plainly  from  a  purposed  exertion  of 
his  powerful  muscles. 

Another  principal  dissimilarity  is  in  the  endurance  of  the  feet;  and  here 
the  Canadian  horse  has  all  the  advantage.  The  Morgan  appears  to  be  subject, 
as  much  as  equally  strong-constitutioued  horses  of  any  breed,  to  founder,  and 
other  diseases  of  the  feet,  while  with  the  Canadian  such  ailments  are  less 
known,  perhaps,  than  wdth  any  other  breed  in  the  world.  There  are  numl)ers 
of  horses  in  Canada  that,  under  a  mass  of  shaggy  hair,  possess  dry,  sinewy 
legs,  on  which  the  severest  service  never  raises  a  wind-gall.  The  legs  of  the 
Morgan,  though  destitute  of  long  hair,  have  this  excellent  conformation  in  a 
very  high  degree. 

The  Morgan  is  a  great  traveler ;  an  untiring,  all-day  horse,  but  seldom  a 
very  fast  trotter  or  galloper,  and  less  frequently  a  perfect  saddle  horse.  The 
Canadian,  if  he  has  the  power  of  rapid  locomotion,  inclines  for  the  most  part 
to  put  forth  his  energies  oulj^  for  a  short  time,  and  then  to  take  a  leisurely 
gait,  as  if  a  slight  sense  of  fatigue  overbalanced  the  alacrity  of  his  nervous 
system.  There  are,  however,  splendid  exceptions  to  this  description;  horses 
that  with  no  light  load  behind  them  will  travel  eighty  and  even  ninety  miles 
in  a  day.  Some  of  the  light-footed  Canadian  horses,  too,  are  very  pleasant 
under  the  saddle,  though  in  general  the  weight  of  the  neck  and  uprightness  of 
the  shoulder  disqualify  them  for  this  use.  The  head  of  the  Morgan,  though 
'not  less  energetic,  is  somewhat  dissimilar  to  that  of  the  Canadian.  The  ears 
of  one  are  upright;  of  the  other,  more  apart.  The  head  of  the  Canadian 
horse  is  broader  at  the  upper  part  than  that  of  the  other.  Each  has  a  great 
space  between  the  eyes,  which  is  considered  a  sure  indication  of  energy  in  an 
animal.  The  Morgan  has  the  best  open  nostril  for  wind  and  bottom,  more 
like  that  of  a  race  horse ;  and  the  whole  of  the  muzzle,  as  well  as  the  eye  and 
ear,  indicate  more  breeding,  or  a  longer  cultivation  than  those  of  the  Cana- 
dian. There  is  a  difference  of  shape  observable  throughout  the  whole  figui'e. 
The  Morgan  is  long  in  the  side,  but  alwaj's  short  on  the  back,  and  strong  and 
beautiful  in  the  loins.  His  fine  shoulder,  too,  differs  from  that  of  the  Canadian 
horse.  It  is  deep,  well  sloped,  comparatively  thin  at  the  top,  and  hea%y  at 
the  bottom,  serving,  conjointly  with  a  wide  chest,  and  the  forelegs  set  far 


CAME  FROM  GOOD  BLOOD.  503 

apart,  to  give  the  horse  an  appearance  of  strength  and  endurance  scarcely  to 
be  looked  for  in  one  of  his  spirit  and  fleetness.  The  high-crested  neck,  and 
thick  wavy-tail  of  the  Morgan,  show  much  of  the  character  of  some  races  of 
the  Canadian. 

The  Morgan  horse  is  remarkable  for  the  projection  of  his  ribs  from  the 
spine,  giving  him  a  wide  back  and  a  round  barrel ;  while  the  Canadian  horse 
is  inclined  to  be  flat-sided.  They  differ  much  in  their  style  of  traveling. 
The  Morgan  raises  his  forefeet  but  little,  while  the  Canadian  horse  has  a  high 
and  labored  action  of  the  forefeet.  The  Canadian  horse  is  certainly  very 
remarkable  for  the  excellence  of  his  feet,  but  poor  feet  are  of  very  rare  occur- 
rence among  Morgan  horses. 

Mr.  Wallace  has  given  the  subject  some  consideration,  and  I  make 
some  quotations  from  a  reference  to  the  family  in  the  second  volume 
of  the  Trotting  Register: 

It  is  altogether  probable  his  sire  was  thoroughbred,  and  that  his  dam  had 
some  of  the  blood  of  Lindsey's  Arabian  in  her  veins.  At  that  early  period 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  attention  paid  to  breeding  the  race  horse  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Connecticut  river,  and  several  very  fine  animals  were  imported 
direct  to  Hartford.  This  horse  Justin  Morgan,  named  after  his  owner,  was 
ver}'  much  more  blood-like  in  his  appearance  and  form  than  his  descendants  of 
thirty  or  forty  years  later,  and  in  this  discussion  it  is  important  to  note  this 
fact.  How  often  have  we  seen  Morgan  horses  paraded  with  manes  fully  a 
yard  long,  and  heavy  in  proportion,  and  their  owners  pointing  out  this  feat- 
ure as  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  purity  of  their  Morgan  lineage. 
Unfortunately  for  this  theory,  which  was  so  industriously  propagated,  Justin 
Morgan  had  no  such  mane ;  he  was  quite  smooth,  and  not  essentially  unlike 
many  blood  horses.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  a  trotter  of  any  con- 
siderable speed,  but  was  always  ready  (and  generally  successful)  to  run  a 
quarter  "  for  the  drinks  all  round."  *  *  *  *  Taking  the  breed 
altogether,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  a  great  many  of  them  possess  the  trotting 
instinct  in  a  marked  degree,  and  some  of  them  in  great  power,  without  the 
physical  conformation  that  will  permit  them  to  go  very  fast.  The  question, 
■"Where  does  this  trotting  instinct  come  from?"  is  in  order  at  this  point. 
The  habits  and  conditions  which  made  the  Canadian  a  trotter  would  in  time 
produce  the  same  effect  immediately  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  well  as 
north  of  it.  But  we  must  look  for  some  other  cause,  as  the  breed  is  not  old 
enough  to  have  become  the  established  creature  of  surrounding  circumstances. 
In  the  very  first  remove  from  the  original  horse,  we  have  seen  the  blood  of 
the  dams  was  unknown ;  in  the  second  remove  the  same  information  is  want- 
ing ;  and  in  the  third  the  immense  crests,  long  manes  and  hairj^  legs  of  their 
neighbors  in  Canada  begin  to  show  themselves,  and  are  contemplated  with 
pride  as  evidence  of  high  Morgan  breeding.  Connect  this  with  the  fact  that 
the  country — especially  the  northern  borders — was  full  of  mares  of  Canadian 
type  and  blood,  and  we  not  only  account  for  the  hair,  but  for  the  trot  at  the 
same  time.  I  am  fully  satisfied  that  the  two  families  are  very  intimately  con- 
nected  in  blood ;  and  while  there  is  more  symmetry  and  style,  and  blood  if 


504  THE   MORGANS. 

you  choose,  in  the  Morgan  than  the  Canadian,  the  former,  probably,  inherits 
from  the  latter  whatever  measure  of  trotting  instinct  he  possesses.  Some 
members  of  the  Morgan  family  show  no  marked  resemblance  to  the  Cana- 
dian, either  in  their  own  or  in  the  appearance  of  their  offspring ;  and  when 
we  find  trotting  instinct  in  such  individuals  we  must  admit  we  do  not  know 
where  it  came  from,  unless  we  conclude  the  instinct  was  transmitted  without 
the  other  marks. 

From  the  above  it  is  important  to  note  that  trotting  instinct  may 
exist  with  an  imperfect  conformation^  and  that  in  this  family,  at  least, 
conformation  is  worthy  of  some  consideration,  which  is  undoubtedly 
true. 

The  peculiarities  in  the  type  and  form  of  the  Morgan  must  ba 
ajjparent  to  any  one  who  is  sufficiently  familiar  with  other  families  to 
comprehend  the  difference.  I  never  approach  one  without  finding- 
myself  totally  at  sea  as  to  all  points  of  conformation,  as  compared 
with  other  roadster  or  trotting  families.  They  have  such  high  mount- 
ing crests,  short  backs,  with  hips  pointing  so  far  forward,  and  their 
short  plumpy  quarters,  generally  pointing  backward  so  far  as  to  give 
them  the  appearance  of  stout  little  pullers,  but  as  not  having  a  ready 
or  easy  working  leverage.  They  make  nice  gallopers,  as  their  con- 
formation of  back  and  quarters  is  admirably  calculated  to  pitch  the 
body  forward  Avith  both  hind  legs  at  once,  yet  the  propelling  power 
wdth  one  hind  leo*  at  a  time,  is  deficient  in  the  matter  of  ready  and 
sweeping  leverage.  But  he  has  the  instincts  and  ways  of  a  roadster 
in  a  high  degree.  This  comes  from  the  fact,  that  some  of  his  ances- 
tors, far  anterior  to  Justin  Morgan,  had  been  accustomed  to  road 
habits  rather  than  galloping,  a  fact  that  would  not  startle  any  one 
among  the  staid  and  sober  denizens  of  the  hillsides  and  narrow  val- 
leys of  New  England.  From  the  earliest  periods  of  their  history  the 
New  Englanders  were  not  a  galloping  people — road  horses  were  the 
only  ones  in  use  or  demand — and  the  instinct  or  habit  would  be 
acquired  and  would  develop  before  the  roads  would  be  good  enough 
to  suggest  any  demand  for  speed.  As  better  roads  came,  there  would 
come  a  demand  for  an  advance  in  the  higher  trotting  qualities  of  the 
little  punchy  Morgans.  At  this  time,  however,  the  family  had 
assumed  a  type  and  form  which  was  fixed  and  strongly  defined  in  its 
character.  They  would  not  yield  it  readily,  and  it  was  so  far  diverse 
from  that  of  the  great  trotting  families,  that  it  could  only  be  reached 
and  engrafted  upon  that,  or  this  upon  it,  by  processes  exactly  adapted 
to  the  end  desired,  or  the  result  would  be  an  inharmonious  union. 
That  many  such  unions  took  place  is  altogether  probable.     Wide 


HIS   EARLY   CHAEACTER.  505 

gulfs  can  not  be  spanned  so  readily  as  narrow  ones,  and  in  all  their 
crossings,  the  right  place  would  not  often  be  secured. 

The  scope  of  this  chapter  only  embraces  such  lines  of  descent  as 
have  succeeded  in  bringing  the  Morgan  horse  to  the  rank  of  a  first 
class  roadster  and  trotting  horse — either  by  the  process  of  judicious 
selections  from  among  their  own  numbers,  of  those  having  elements  of 
adaptation,  or  that  of  gradual  and  successful  introduction  of  other 
blood  elements  possessing  an  adaptation  to  the  double  purpose  of 
securing  roadster  qualities,  and  of  engrafting  them  on  this  difficult 
and  informed  stock. 

Before  proceeding,  however,  it  is  important  that  I  should  advert  to 
some  peculiarities  of  the  original  and  succeeding  members  of  the 
family. 

That  he  came  from  a  thoroughbred,  anct  one  strong  and  close  to 
the  parent  Arab  stock,  is  strongly  suggested  in  his  own  form  and 
traits  of  character,  and  the  intensity  of  his  impress  as  a  stallion. 
That  his  dam  also  had  some — even  much  of  the  same  quality,  is  more 
than  probable,  but  we  can  not  escape  the  conclusion,  that  she  also  had 
some  other  qualities  and  elements  which  gave  to  Morgan  a  type  and 
character  much  different  in  some  essentials  from  the  Arab  qualities  of 
True  Briton  and  Traveller.  That  she  had  also  elements  of  Canadian 
blood  in  close  union,  is  most  apjjarent  in  the  rapidity  with  which  such 
character  grew  in  the  Morgan  family,  and  the  powerful  influence  that 
was  wrought  in  the  Morgans  at  an  early  period  of  their  history. 

An  element  of  road  blood  derived  from  Canadian  sources,  although 
a  small  factor  in  the  composition  of  a  horse,  coming  from  True 
Briton  and  the  so-called  Wildair  mare,  would  constitute  a  germ 
which  would  grow  and  finally  assume  a  character  of  great  positive- 
ness  and  influence,  just  as  the  crosses  of  racing  blood  in  Pilot  Jr. 
gave  him  t^^pe  and  character,  and  caused  him  to  impress  himself  so 
powerfully  on  the  produce  of  racing  or  thoroughbred  mares.  This 
element  thus  introduced  in  the  first  progenitor,  became  one  of  the 
fixed  and  positive  traits  in  the  Morgan  horse,  and  the  subsequent 
generations,  if  in-bred  in  the  same  line  of  blood,  would  and  did  grow 
and  develop  the  qualities  of  the  Canadian  or  road  stock  in  modified 
form.  Thus  it  was  that  the  original  clean  legs  of  the  Morgan  became 
hairy;  his  mane  and  tail,  once  as  light  as  that  of  an  Arab,  became 
heavy  and  coarse. 

He  was  at  first  a  galloper  and  adapted  to  the  puri:)oses  of  a  short 
distance  race  horse — the  hillsides  and  crooked  valleys  of  Vermont  and 


506  THE   MORGANS. 

Massachusetts  did  not  call  for  the  qualities  of  a  four-miler,  and  as  his 
ordinary  and  principal  use  and  employment  was  that  of  a  work  or 
road  horse,  he  soon  lost  his  racing  qualities  and  became  a  roadster. 
And  such  was  the  Morgan  horse  after  the  first  generation — he  was  a 
roadster.  But  making  him  a  roadster  in  such  short  time  did  not  make 
him  a  fast  trotter.  His  form  was  not  suited  to  the  purpose,  he  must 
undergo  many  changes  before  that  could  be  said  of  him.  He  could 
not  be  crossed  at  once  upon  the  great  trotting  families — the  Abdallahs, 
the  Bellfounders,  and  the  Duroc-Messengers  of  the  land.  He  was 
too  far  from  them. 

Before  tracing  the  processes  by  which  great  road  and  trotting  quali- 
ties have  been  engrafted  upon  the  Morgan  stock,  it  is  proper  that  I 
should  recur  to  the  immediate  progeny  of  Justin  Morgan  and  consider 
the  several  different  channels  through  which  his  blood  has  been  dissem- 
inated, and  thus  trace  the  gradual  approaches  which  have  been  made 
in  transforming  the  original  short  punchy  Morgan  into  the  elastic  and 
fleet  trotter  of  the  present  day;  and  from  a  careful  study  of  the 
gradual  but  progressive  advancement,  retaining  his  excellences,  his 
beauty,  his  docility,  his  general  healthfulness,  and  enlarging  his 
capacity  and  range  of  usefulness,  we  may  learn  the  lesson  how  we  may 
still  further  advance  the  American  roadster  and  trotter  in  the  employ- 
ment of  the  blood  of  the  little  and  docile  but  trappy  progenitor  of 
the  Morgan  family. 

fllS    SONS. 

Justin  Morgan  left  several  sons,  only  four  of  which  occupy  any 
prominence  among  his  descendants,  viz.:  Bulrush,  Sherman,  Wood- 
bury and  Revenge,  and  the  latter  is  not  often  referred  to  in  the 
important  lines  descended  from  Morgan. 

The  important  features  that  characterized  the  Justin  Morgan,  his  compact- 
ness of  form,  his  higli  and  generous  spirit,  combined  with  the  most  perfect 
gentleness  and  tractability;  his  bony,  sinewy  limbs,  his  lofty  style,  and  easy 
but  vigorous  action,  were  strongly  aiid  strikingly  impressed  upon  his  oftspriug. 
Not  only  did  his  valuable  qualities  descend  unimpaired  to  the  next  generation, 
but  apparently  with  little  diminution  to  the  second  and  third;  and  thus  it  is 
that  where  pains  have  been  taken  to  select  both  sires  and  dams,  possessing 
most  of  his  blood  and  characteristics,  young  colts  may  now  be  found  that 
closely  resemble  him  in  all  important  respects,  except  size,  in  which  there  has 
been  a  decided  increase. 

Such  was  the  statement  made  a  little  more  than  twenty   years 


ago. 


THE   FIRST   GENERATION.  507 

Revenge  was  foaled  in  1815,  and  was  a  dark  bay  or  brown,  about 
fourteen  hands  and  a  half  high,  and  weighed  about  one  thousand 
pounds. 

WooDBiTRT  was  foaled  in  1816,  and  came  from  a  large  mare — 
larger  than  the  others,  and  was  a  dark  rich  chestnut,  fourteen  and 
three-quarters  hands  high,  and  weighed  a  trifle  over  one  thousand 
pounds.  His  dam  both  paced  and  trotted — had  some  speed,  and  was 
a  fast  walker. 

Bulrush  was  foaled  in  1813  to  1814.  He  was  a  dark  bay,  his 
mane  and  tail  were  very  heavy — his  mane  came  to  his  knees,  and  his 
foretop  to  the  end  of  his  nose,  very  suggestive  of  Canadian  blood. 
But  this  was  wholly  unlike  Justin  Morgan.  He  had  a  bad  temper  and 
more  endurance  than  any  of  the  Morgans.  He  was  about  fourteen 
hands  hio-h. 

Shek^ian  was  foaled  m  1808  to  1811,  His  dam  was  a  small 
highly  bred  chestnut  or  brown  mare  of  great  quality,  as  a  saddle 
horse,  brought  by  Mr.  John  Sherman  from  Rhode  Island.  Sherman 
was  a  bright  chestnut  about  thirteen  and  three-quarters  hands  high, 
and  weighed  aboiit  nine  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds.  As  Justin 
Morgan  was  noted  in  his  day  for  ability  to  draw  a  heavy  log  or  stone- 
boat,  so  Sherman  in  his  day  succeeded  to  the  reputation. 

The  four  stallions  above  named  were  the  best  sons  of  Justin  Morgan, 
and  the  only  ones  from  which  any  trace  of  roadster  lineage  descended, 
if  indeed  it  may  be  said  that  any  such  quality  descended  from  any  of 
his  immediate  progeny.  Of  these  sons,  Sherman  was  undoubtedly 
the  best,  as  he  was  descended  from  the  best  dam,  the  only  one  having 
any  pretensions  to  superior  quality. 

As  to  the  speed  of  the  family  in  the  first  generation,  it  is  not 
probable  that  any  son  or  daughter  of  Justin  Morgan  could  trot  a  mile 
in  3:30,  and  while  the  sons  of  Justin  lived  until  as  late  a  period  as 
1835,  it  is  not  known  that  any  of  them  ever  produced  a  son  or 
daughter  capable  of  trotting  in  2:40.  With  all  their  admirable 
qualities,  and  the  most  remarkable  power  to  transmit  and  retain  them, 
they  could  make  no  pretensions  to  anything  like  speed  or  trotting 
excellence,  however  clearly  defined  and  well  developed  may  have 
been  their  instinct  or  natural  impulse  for  that  gait. 

The  record  now  shows  that  the  lineal  descendants  of  Justin  Mor- 
gan are  credited  with  thirty-three  performers  in  2:25  or  better,  and  as 
low  a  record  as  2:16:|-,  and  four  with  records  in  2:20  or  better.  By 
what  process  of  breeding  has  this  result  been  attained?    While  much 


608  THE   MORGANS. 

of  our  general  progress  in  fast  time  has  heen  the  result  of  training 
and  progressive  development,  it  will  not  be  claimed  that  by  such 
means  the  Morgan  family  has  l)een  brought  to  the  position  of  a  first- 
class  trotting  family.  The  analysis  of  the  progressive  breeding 
processes  by  which  this  has  been  achieved  affords  us  an  interesting 
and  highly  instructive  lesson,  and  forms  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the 
pages  of  this  work,  devoted  to  the  study  of  our  American  Roadsters 
and  Trotting  Horses. 

VERMONT    BLACKHAWK. 

This  was  the  most  distinguished  of  all  the  grandsons  of  Justin 
Morgan,  and  it  may  be  said  that  with  him  came  in  the  first  elements 
of  a  departure  from  the  original  stock,  and  toward  the  real  roadster 
families.  He  stands  as  the  recognized  head  of  a  class  of  roadsters  of 
acknowledged  type,  and  with  far  greater  claims  than  Justin  Morgan. 
All  the  information  we  have  concerning  his  dam  is  that  she  was  a 
^'mare  raised  in  New  Brunswick,  and  represented  as  a  half-bred  Eng- 
lish mare."  A  gentleman  who  knew  Hill,  the  owner  of  Blackhawk, 
informs  me  that  he  always  claimed  that  she  was  a  daughter  of  Mam- 
brino.  In  the  family  descended  from  Blackhawk  I  find  more  that  is 
reliable  than  in  any  traditional  account  of  the  origin  of  his  dam.  The 
gait  and  manner  of  going  of  the  family  is  clearly  marked,  and  in  gen- 
eral well  defined;  that  of  the  descendants  of  Ethan  Allen  differing 
slightly  from  the  others.  They  trot  with  an  elastic  and  smooth  gait, 
with  an  easy  propelling  power  behind,  and  less  of  the  trappy  action 
of  the  front  leo;s  than  the  other  Moro-ans.  The  resemblance  to  the 
gait  of  the  Champions  and  Abdallahs  is  about  as  near  as  they  resem- 
ble each  other,  there  being  a  difference,  but  it  is  one  of  degree,  and 
not  very  great.  They  are  handsome,  rangy  and  blood-like,  and  em- 
body the  beauty  and  style  of  the  Morgan  family  in  the  highest  degree. 
The  gait  and  manner  of  going  of  the  Blackhawks  of  full  size,  which 
I  have  seen  and  studied  with  great  care,  carries  to  my  mind  an  evi- 
dence of  kinship  with  that  of  the  Messenger  family;  and  while  Hill's 
version  of  the  pedigree  may  have  no  foundation,  the  im])ression  on 
my  mind  as  to  the  origin  of  the  blood  qualities  which  give  the  Black- 
hawks  their  character  is  clear  and  well  defined.  Accepting  the  state- 
ment that  she  was  raised  in  New  Brunswick,  and  was  represented  to 
be  a  half-bred  English  mare,  and  my  sokition  of  the  matter  is  equally 
clear  and  in  no  respect  changed.  Every  lineament  of  their  character 
points  to  one  source,  from  which   we  have  in  this  country  so  many 


<: 
m 

o 

H 
CD 

r 
o 

X 
> 


BLACKHAWK.  609 

representatives,  that  I  am  as  ready  to  accept  of  that  version  as  any 
other.  That  her  sire  or  dam  came  from  England  is  a  matter  that  I 
can  readily  accept,  in  view  of  the  many  similar  elements  which  we 
have  in  this  country,  derived  from  Messenger,  Hooton,  Trustee,  Sar- 
pedon.  Contract,  Ainderby,  Britannia,  Mambrina  and  Melrose — all 
displaying  precisely  the  same  traits,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  and  all 
tracing  for  the  origin  of  those  traits  to  the  Black  horse  of  mixed  Lin- 
colnshire and  Arab  blood,  from  which  have  descended  the  most  posi- 
tive and  valuable  trotting  or  roadster  elements  the  world  has  yet 
furnished.  The  blood  in  this  mare  may  have  been  diluted  and  dis- 
tant, but  it  was  there,  and  the  gait  and  manner  of  going  of  all  the 
descendants  to  this  day  declare  it.  She  may  not  have  been  a  Mam- 
brino  or  a  Messenger;  she  does  not  display  in  her  descendants  the 
coarseness,  the  solid  character,  which  follows  that  family.  She  was  a 
blood-like  mare,  and  the  Blackhawks  are  as  handsome  and  blood-like 
as  if  the  Darley  Arabian  had  been  a  close  and  near  connection  of 
their  famous  progenitor. 

I  have  said  that  the  dam  of  Blackhawk  may  not  have  been  a  Mam- 
brino  or  any  descendant  of  Messenger.  I  hardly  believe  she  was. 
If  she  was,  she  was  so  near  to  the  original  stock,  that  in  addition  to 
the  more  positive  traits  of  the  family  or  blood  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
the  strong  and  rough  points  of  character  which  marked  all  the  early 
lines  close  to  Messenger,  Blackhawk  would  most  likely  have  dis- 
played in  himself,  and  his  immediate  offspring,  more  of  the  real  and 
positive  trotting  quality  of  the  Messenger  family.  It  can  not  be  said 
that  he  did  show  this  in  strong  degree.  While  he  was  a  very  hand- 
some trotter,  and  produced  some  good  trotters,  had  he  stopped  there 
he  could  not  have  been  accounted  a  great  sire;  he  had,  however,  the 
germ  or  elements,  but  not  in  strong  degree.  He  could  trot  a  mile  in 
2:42,  two  miles  in  5:43,  and  he  trotted  five  miles  in  sixteen  minutes. 
He  was  a  roadster,  and  had  some  elements  of  a  trotter.  It  was 
beginning  in  him,  and  was  to  develop  in  his  progeny;  and  it  must  be 
said  that  it  did  increase  very  rapidly;  but  it  is  also  apparent  that  his 
trotting  blood  received  reinforcements  at  every  stage,  and  the  success 
of  the  family  is  largely  due  to  that  fact. 

Blackhawk — or  as  he  is  generally  called,  Vermont  Blackhawk — 
was  foaled  in  1833;  a  jet  black,  a  little  under  fifteen  hands  high;  bred 
by  Wingate  Twombly,  of  Greenland,  New  Hampshire.  When  four 
years  old  he  was  purchased  by  Benjamin  Thurston,  of  Lowell,  Mass., 
for  a  family  driving  horse,  and  kept  for  that  purpose  until  1844,  when 
JJ3 


510  THE   MORGANS. 

he  was  purchased  by  David  Hill,  of  Bridport,  Vt.,  and  was  thence- 
forth called  Hill's  Blackhawk.  He  died  in  1856.  His  own  symmetry 
and  beauty  of  form,  and  even  trotting  gait,  he  imparted  to  his 
progeny  in  very  remarkable  degree.  He  was  in  his  day  a  trotting 
sire  of  very  great  popularity. 

He  has  to  his  credit  Ethan  Allen,  2 rSoJ,  and  eleven  heats  in  2:30 
or  better;  Lancet,  2:27-^,  and  six  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  Belle  of 
Saratoga,  2:29.  He  also  had  Blackhawk  Maid,  two  miles  in  5:22. 
This  was  a  long  advance  on  the  original  trotting  capacity  of  the  Mor- 
gan family,  and  was,  perhaps,  equal  to  a  gain  of  one  minute  in  speed 
for  a  single  generation;  and  the  gain  in  speed  was  not  more  decisive 
■or  marked,  than  the  advance  in  type  and  form  or  stature  from  that  of 
the  Morgans  of  the  first  generation.  I  have  said  that  Blackhawk, 
■either  as  a  trotter  or  a  sire,  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  great  horse; 
yet  if  all  the  credit  of  his  offspring  is  to  be  regarded  as  due  to  him 
alone,  he  was  really  a  great  sire.  But  it  will  appear  that  this  was  a 
progressive  family,  and  they  displayed  their  really  progressive  traits 
in  the  way  in  which  they  gathered  reinforcements  in  each  generation. 
This  was  their  real  element  of  success.  From  a  superior  mare — one 
that  was  a  great  roadster  and  possessed  of  excellent  blood  qualities — 
Blackhawk  produced  Addison,  and  he  in  turn  produced  Addison  Jr., 
the  sire  of  Clementine,  with  a  record  of  2:21,  and  thirty-one  heats  in 
ii  :30  or  better.  From  a  daughter  of  Smith's  Hambletonian  he  produced 
Sherman"  Blackhawk,  the  sire  of  Panic,  2:28,  and  Chicago  Jack, 
2:30,  and  King  Herod,  sire  of  Herod,  2:2Gf ;  Foxie  V,  2:30,  also  sire  of 
Rossman  Horse,  sire  of  Badger  Boy,  the  sire  of  Gen.  Howard,  2:26^; 
and  also  sire  of  Napoleon,  sire  of  Revenge,  that  produced  Observer 
with  record  of  2:24^,  and  twenty-five  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  Such 
was  part  of  the  record  and  standing  of  Sheiraan  Blackhawk;  but 
his  dam  was  by  Smith's  Hambletonian,  he  by  Harris'  Hambletonian, 
and  his  dam  by  Leonidas,  and  grandam  by  imported  Bellfounder. 

His  further  advance  in  good  blood,  liowever,  was  in  his  son, 
Vermont  Hero,  The  dam  of  Vermont  Hero  was  by  Harris'  Ham- 
bletonian, the  Green  Mountain  sin^,  a  particular  account  of  which 
was  given  in  Chapter  XV.  He  is  t.h.3  sire  of  Lady  M.  with  record  of 
:i:30,  but  his  greatest  reputation  is  derived  from  his  son, 

GKJSr.    KNOX. 

'This  distinguished  son  of  Vermont  Hero  was  foaled  in  1855;  is  a 
1>lack  stallion,  about  fifteen  hands  high,  but  on   his   withers  rises  per- 


GENERAL    KNOX.  611 

haps  two  inches  higher;  very  compactly  built;  has  a  short  thigh,  only 
20  inches  in  length,  and  trots  very  close  and  even  behind;  he  also  has 
a  short  forearm ;  limbs  heavy  and  strong.  His  dam  was  by  Smith's 
Hambletonian,  son  of  Harris'  Hambletonian,  his  grandam  by  Harris' 
Hambletonian.  Thus  it  will  appear  that  Gen.  Knox  runs  to  Harris' 
Hambletonian  four  times,  to  Smith's  Hambletonian  twice,  and  to 
imported  Bellfounder  twice,  once  to  Blackhawk,  once  to  Justin  Mor- 
gan and  Sherman.  He  can  scarcely  be  called  a  Morgan,  and  has 
certainly  none  of  the  characteristics  of  the  family.  He  is  a  coarse 
looking  horse,  having  the  appearance  of  a  cross  between  the  Mes- 
senger and  the  Canadian,  except  that  the  mane  and  tail  do  not  indi- 
cate the  peculiar  coarseness  of  the  Canadian.  He  has  a  ewe  neck, 
and  no  crest,  or  rather,  as  has  been  said  by  one  writer,  the  crest  is  on 
the  under  side  of  it;  his  jowl  is  deej)  and  very  heavy.  His  appear- 
ance does  not  speak  out  clearly  of  the  excellences  he  contains.  He 
has  none  of  the  beauty  and  style  which  characterized  the  Morgans 
•of  the  early  day,  and  is  far  removed  from  the  handsome  Black- 
hawks.  He  is  as  strong  in  the  blood  of  Messenger,  all  coming 
through  Harris'  Hambletonian,  as  any  horse  in  America. 

Gen.  Knox  is  owned  by  H.  N.  Smith,  Esq.,  at  the  Fashion  Stud 
Farm,  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  has  spent  nearly  all  of  his  days  prior 
to  1872  in  the  State  of  Maine.  A  lucky  State  to  have  held  one  such 
sire,  for  he  has  been  a  most  remarkable  one.  He  should  not  be  called 
a  Morgan,  and  should  stand  to-day  to  the  credit  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tain sire,  Harris'  Hambletonian,  for  such  in  reality  he  is,  and  we 
have  produced  no  stallion  in  our  day  which  can  surpass  him.  He 
lived  so  far  ofi"  down  East  and  in  such  an  obscure  place  that  we 
scarcely  heard  of  him  until  about  the  time  he  left  that  State.  That 
Lis  true  status,  as  a  sire,  may  be  set  forth  in  these  pages,  I  avail 
myself  of  a  very  intelligent  article  in  Wallace's  3fonthly^  from  a 
writer  whom  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  knowing,  and  make  the  fol- 
lowing extract: 

Knox  is  a  well-bred  horse,  and  was  alwaj^s  a  good,  square,  level-headed 
trotter.  At  sixteen  years  of  age,  iu  1871,  he  was  bought  by  Mr.  Smith,  tlirough 
Yiv.  Nodine,  as  a  trotter,  he  having  no  idea  then  of  breeding  him.  Nodine 
took  him  to  Prospect  Park  in  July,  just  before  starting  for  Buffalo,  where  he 
was  entered  in  the  2:30  class.  After  being  there  a  short  time,  Mr.  Smith  was 
sent  for  to  see  him  take  a  mile  and  repeat.  He  could  not  go,  so  sent  James 
B.  Bach  and  Mr.  Salters  to  time  him.  The  first  mile  was  trotted  in  2:25)^, 
repeated  with  perfect  ease  in  2:24.  He  then  went  to  Buffalo,  where  the  asso- 
elation  gave  him  the  best  stall  at  the  track,  a  new  one.  He  slipped  on  the 
fresh  planking,  wrenching  one  of  his  forward  legs,  and  was  uuable  to  start  in 


612 


THE   MORGANS. 


the  race.    In  ten  days  he  was  well  again,  and  received  some  further  training. 
In  1872  he  stood  in  "Westchester  county.     It  was  not  until  1873  that  he  went 

to  Fashion  Farm. 

Let  us  examine  the  performances  of  his  offspring  in  the  Pine  Tree  State, 
and  see  what  we  should  expect  of  General  Washington  and  his  two-year-old 
sister,  Rose  Thorn;  what  of  the  three-year-old  colt  out  of  Tida  (by  Ethan 
Alk'u,  dam  by  Abdallah) ;  what  of  the  suberb  two-year-old  colt  out  of  the  dam 
of  Music. 


2:30 


Lady  Maud...  2:18>4  ). 


2:20 


Lexington 2 :36^ 

Lady  Knox  (Cook's) 2 :37 

Brackett's  (Knox  Jr.) .2 :37 

Gen.  Sherman 2 :37i^ 

Waldo  Chief .2 :38 

Knox    Jr 2:38 

Lady  Knox  (Springer's) 2 :38i^ 

Palmer  Knox 2:38i^ 

Black  Sultan ..2A0% 

Howe's  Bismarck  2 :40J^ 

Jules  Jurgensen      .    2 :413^ 

Christine  (Capron's) 2:42 

Millinoket 2 :42^ 

Geo.  Knox 2:43 

Charcoal 2 :44^ 

Tom  Lang 2 :45 

Uncle  Shube    2:45 

Lambert  Knox 2 :46 

Riverton  Knox 2 :55 


Camors 2:19^ 

Gilbreth  Knox 2:26^ 

I    Plato 2:273^ 

[^  Harry  Spanker 2 :30 

Gen.  Lightfoot 2 :31 

Knox  Boy 2:31i^ 

Grey  Knox  (Green's) 2  Mhz 

Phil  Sheridan 2 :319^ 

Messenger  Knox 2 :31 '4 

Maine  Slasher 2 :32 

Dr.  Franklin 2  :34 

Miss  Butterball 2 :35 

CoraT 2:35 

Bogus  Boy 2 :353^ 

Honest  Tom 2 :36 

Christine 2  M^ 

Emperor  William 3:36 

Barbara  Knox 2 :36 

Here  are  thirty-eight  colts  of  a  single  horse,  with  fast  records.  Lady  Maud's 
,2:183-^  is  astonishing,  but  not  so  remarkable  as  her  own  •2:22%  at  five  years 
of  age. 

Nor  is  this  all.    His  sons  can  add  the  following  to  the  laurels  due  their  sire: 

Charley  R 2:27 

Lothair 2 :29i^ 

Myra  Shaw 2 :34 

Gilbreth  Maid 2 :38 

Honest  John 2:40 

Silver  Eye 2 :40 

Eastern  Queen 2:421.^ 

Becky  Sharp 2 :45 

Air '. 2:31 

Nellie  Walton 2:2()i^ 

Fred  Logan 2 :34 

John  S.  Heald 2:21^i 

Plymouth  Rock 2 :32 

Little  Fred 2 :35 

R.  E.  Lee 2 :3G 

Thurlow  Knox 2 :48 


By  Gilbreth  Knox,.2:26^. 


By  General  Lightfoot. 

By  Jules  Jurgensen. 

By  Whalebone  Knox. 
By  Black  Sultan. 

By  Phil  Sheridan,  2:31^. 


GENERAL   WASHINGTON.  513 

This  is  the  stud  record,  in  part,  of  a  horse  who  stood  in  a  little  village  of 
Maine,  obscure,  unheralded ;  and  everything  he  has  shown  has  been  in  the 
face  of  such  disadvantages  as  would  have  covered  a  horse  of  less  merit,  so  no 
one  would  ever  have  heard  of  him.  He  has  succeeded  because  of  intrinsic 
wortli,  and  in  spite  of  his  surroundings. 

All  General  Knox  lacks  is,  high  form  and  "quality."  If  "handsome  is  that 
handsome  does,"  he  lacks  nothing  at  all.  In  view  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  I 
am  certain  no  one  can  deny  he  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  animals  that 
ever  lived — a  horse  among  a  thousand. 

General  Knox  has  one  son  which  will  be  watched  witli  interest. 
He  is  the  son  of  the  renowned  Lady  Thorn,  foaled  February  22, 
1874,  and  was  named,  in  honor  of  the  day, 

GENERAL    WASHINGTOIS". 

I  have  already  referred  to  him,  as  fully  as  I  have  data  to  guide  me, 
in  my  sketch  of  Lady  Thorn.  I  regret  that  I  can  not  in  this  place 
present  the  portrait  of  the  young  stallion.  The  success  of  Sherman 
Blackhawk  illustrates  the  progressive  advance  in  the  Morgan  family 
in  the  way  of  gradual  introduction  of  the  blood  of  the  great  trotting 
families;  and  it  is  shown  that  they  receive  these  advances  kindly,  and 
at  the  same  time  retain  much  of  their  own  excellences  of  temper, 
constitution  and  beauty. 

CoTTRiLL  Morgan  was  by  Vermont  Blackhawk;  dam  said  to  be  a 
three-quarter  English  mare  that  could  trot  in  three  minutes.  He  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  of  the  family.  He  produced  Bell  Mor- 
gan, the  sire  of  Lady  Turpin,  with  record  of  2:23,  and  eight  heats  in 
2:30  or  better. 

Black  Flying  Cloud  was  also  a  son  of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  and 
was  the  sire  of  Badger  Girl,  with  record  of  2:22|^,  and  twenty-five 
heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Vermont  Blackhawk  was  also  sire  of  Blackhaavk  Hero — sire  of 
Grey  Mack — 2:35^:,  and  nine  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Also  of  Challenge,  the  sire  of  Doty,  2:28^^,  and  six  heats  in  2:30. 

He  was  also  the  sire  of  Jackson's  Flying  Cloud,  the  sire  of  Star  of 
the  West,  2:2G^,  and  Trojan,  sire  of  Ella  Wright,  2:24f,  and  nine 
heats  in  2:30.  Trojan's  dam  was  by  Abdallah,  and  the  dam  of  this 
Flying  Cloud  was  by  Andrew  Jackson. 

Vermont  Blackhawk  was  also  the  sire  of  Benedict's  Pathfinder, 
<lam  by  Walkins'  Highlandei-,  and  he  jjroduced  Buel's  Pathfinder,  the 
sire  of  Frank,  with  record  of  2:20,  and  fifteen  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

Vermont  Blackhawk  is  als.i  credited  as  the  sire  of  the  Hemingway 


614  THE   MORGANS. 

Horse,  the  sire  ol"  Hampshire  Boy;  the  dam  of  the  latter  said  to  have 
been  a  daughter  of  Napoleon,  by  Young  Mambrino,  son  of  Chan- 
cellor, son  of  Mambrino;  another  instance  of  the  j)rogressive  advance- 
ment of  the  Morgan  in  the  channel  of  trotting  blood,  and  evidenced 
in  this  case  by  Hampshire  Boy  being  sire  of  Susey,  with  record  of 
2:21,  and  forty-four  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

The  highest  advance,  however,  made  by  Vermont  Blackhawk 
toward  founding  a  family  of  trotting  horses  was  in  having  produced 

ETHAN    ALLEN. 

Ethan  was  a  bay  stallion,  bred  by  J.  W.  Holcomb,  Ticonderoofa, 
New  York,  and  was  foaled  in  1849;  by  Vermont  Blackhawk;  dam  a 
small,  grey  mare,  whose  pedigree  has  never  been  ascertained,  hut 
whose  blood  qualities,  in  connection  with  the  qualities  of  her  son  and 
other  produce,  go  to  indicate  that  she  was  a  highly  bred  mare,  strong 
in  the  blood  of  Messenger.  The  opinion  has  been  advanced  by  Mr. 
Wallace — but  on  what  information  I  do  not  know — that  this  mare 
was  by  the  Freeman  Horse,  a  son  of  Ogden's  Messenger;,  but  the  real 
facts  can  not  be  ascertained,  and  probably  will  never  be  known;  and 
we  are  limited  to  this  fact,  which  must  be  accepted  and  taken  a& 
assured  by  all  who  have  studied  the  blood  traits  of  our  American 
trotting  families,  that  she  was  just  such  in  every  point  and  trait,  as  a 
granddaughter  or  great  granddaughter  of  imported  Messenger;  and 
there  is  hardly  room  to  doubt  that  such  was  her  parentage. 

Like  all  the  other  maternals  in  this  fortunate  family  of  successful 
sons— whose  chief  success  in  each  case  seems  to  have  been  achieved 
in  coming  from  a  mare  of  superior  blood — this  mare  seems  to  have 
had  the  controllins:  share  in  the  formation  of  the  character  of  her 
son  and  of  his  own  descendants.  She  also  bore  a  full  brother  tO' 
Ethan  Allen,  called  Red  Leg,  and  a  full  sister,  called  Blackhawk 
Maid,  and  these  were  both  fast.  She  also  produced  a  filly  by  another 
stallion,  which  was  a  remarkable  trotter  for  its  age,  but  was  killed 
when  four  years  old.  This  mare  was  a  small,  flea-bitten  grey  mare — 
just  such  as  in  the  State  of  Vermont  and  the  eastern  edge  of  New 
York  were  at  that  time,  and  for  a  long  time  before  and  since,  called 
Messengers.  All  her  ])roduce  were  trotters,  and  their  trotting  action 
very  perfect.  That  of  Ethan  Allen  has  never  been  excelled.  With 
all  her  excellent  qualities,  however,  and  they  were  many  and  great,, 
she  was  an  unsound  mare,  and  she  transmitted  to  Ethan  spavined 
hocks,  and  gave  him  also  the  ability  to  transmit  this  taint  and  deeji- 


ETHAN   ALLEN.  515 

seated  infirmity  to  many  of  his  produce.  It  is  even  said  that  he  was 
foaled  with  spavins.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  all  his  great 
prowess  as  a  trotter  was  maintained  in  spite  of  this  serious  disadvan- 
tage, and  that  it  has  rendered  many  of  his  offspring  of  little  value. 
Their  feet  and  legs  are  not  up  to  the  early  Morgan  standard  of  supe- 
riority. 

Mr.  Leonard  T.  Tucker,  a  gentleman  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  and 
for  many  years  the  owner  of  the  stallion  Draco,  and  whose  life  has 
been  passed  in  great  part  among  the  Morgan  horses,  at  one  time  wrote 
a  letter,  from  which  I  make  an  extract: 

The  statement  that  Ethan  Allen  is,  anatomically,  very  evenly  balanced,  is  a 
mistake.  Ethan  is  quite  too  light  in  the  hindquarters  for  the  other  portions 
of  his  body ;  not  glaringly  so,  but  plainly  so.  In  his  hind  limb*  he  is 
extremely  faulty.  The  hock  joints  being  narrow  and  not  strongly  capped,, 
the  upper  end  of  the  cannon-bone  being  too  narrow,  and  the  joint  very 
crooked,  renders  them  extremely  liable  to  become  curbed,  as  they  have 
been  two  or  three  times  badly,  but  have  been  well  treated  in  the  first 
stages  of  the  strain,  and  I  presume  do  not  show.  The  pastern  joints  of  the 
hind  limbs  are  too  long  and  delicate,  not  larger  than  ought  to  be  on  a  well 
balanced  horse  of  700  lbs.  It  is  this  natural  weakness  in  Ethan  that  compels 
him  to  "  quit "  at  his  fastest  gait,  when  asked  to  carry  even  himself  muclt 
over  half  a  mile.  Having  been  with  this  horse  much  of  the  time  during 
three  of  his  best  trotting  seasons,  I  speak  from  absolute  knowledge,  and  only 
wish  to  state  the  facts. 

That  Ethan  Allen  has  the  most  perfect  trotting  gait  ever  seen,  all  admit 
who  know  him.  He  works  with  the  least  waste  of  motion.  His  stride  is  as 
precise  as  the  stroke  of  a  pendulum,  and  so  true  does  he  carry  his  body,  so- 
graceful  his  head  and  neck,  and  animated  so  as  to  "  light  up  all  over,"  that  he 
presents  a  most  perfect  "  sylph-like  form  of  elegance."  Though  he  can  not 
cany  weight  and  last,  yet  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  there  has  yet  lived  a 
more  speedy  horse.  At  the  stud  Ethan  may  be  safely  used  when  the  dam  cam 
fortify  his  weak  points  as  did  the  pacer  Pocahontas,  and  the  dams  of  Honest 
Allen  and  the  Porter  colt. 

The  "  trotting  strains  "  of  the  Morgan  family  are  not  to  be  found.  They  dO' 
not  exist.  The  original  Morgan  horse,  called  Justin  Morgan,  was.  half  or 
more  thoroughbred ;  had  a  short  nervous  action ;  was  a  spirited  elegant  saddle 
horse,  but  had  no  trotting  speed.  Of  the  six  stallions  saved  from  him,  none 
showed  fast  trotting.  Of  the  grandsons  only  one,  and  that  was  Hill's  Black- 
hawk.  This  latter  horse  was  by  Sherman  Morgan ;  the  best  roadster  left  by 
.Justin.  It  is  claimed  by  those  who  knew  the  dam  of  Sherman,  that  she  was 
a  mare  of  uncommon  endurance  on  the  road,  but  not  fast.  It  is  eveiywhere 
admitted  where  she  was  known,  that  the  dam  of  Blackhawk  was  speedy- 
Ethan  Allen  was  one-eighth  Morgan,  and  no  speed  in  any  ancestor  on  the 
Morgan  side.  Then  it  must  have  been  that  he  inherited  fast  trotting  in  the 
seven-eighths  instead  of  the  one-eighth,  where  there  was  none,  for  it  is.  eertaia 


616  TIJE   MOUGANS. 

that  Etlian's  dam  was  fast.  The  ''  trotting  strain  "  came  from  another  quarter 
than  the  Morgans.  The  same  is  true  of  all  tlie  trotters  from  Hill's  Black- 
hawk. 

From  tliis,  liowever,  it  must  not  l)e  inferred  that  Etlien  Allen  had 
not  the  leverag-e  conformation  of  a  perfect  trotter,  as  nearly  as  such 
form  has  been  possessed  by  any.  His  limbs  were  deficient,  but  the 
relative  length  of  the  same  has  been  pronounced  by  Mr.  S.  T.  Harris, 
a  very  able  writer  and  one  who  knew  the  horse  from  close  study,  to 
be  on  the  most  perfect  model  for  a  great  trotter.  His  perfectioij  of 
trotting  action  could  not  have  been  displayed  without  machinery  of 
the  most  exact  proportions,  although  they  may  have  been  utterly 
unsound  and  deficient  in  other  respects.  His  trotting  actiotl  will  ever 
be  presented  as  the  most  perfect  witnessed  on  any  of  our  trotting 
courses. 

Ethan  Allen  acquired  great  reputation  for  trotting  with  a  running 
mate,  and  in  this  way  rigged  was  matched  against  Dexter,  and  made  a 
memorable  race — making  the  mile  in  2:15,whichatthat  time  was  several 
seconds  faster  than  had  ever  been  made  by  any  trotting  horse.  His 
record,  unaided  by  a  running  mate,  is  2:25^,  and  he  has  eleven  heats 
in  2:30  or  better;  but  he  is  the  hero  of  several  victories  with  a  run- 
ning mate,  a  favorite  achievement  with  him.  So  perfect  was  his  trotting 
action  that  it  may  be  said  he  could  trot  as  fast  as  any  other  horse 
could  pull  him  along. 

He  was  a  small  horse,  and  he  bred  many  very  small  ones,  and  many 
unsound  ones,  but  with  all  this  lack  of  stature  and  their  imperfections, 
he  may  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  a  great  family  of  fast  trotters;  for 
such  they  are,  if  they  have  any  capacity  or  speed  whatever — the  seri- 
ous drawback  to  the  family  in  many  cases  being  a  lack  of  ability  to 
endure  training;.  This  is  a  defect  that  nothing;'  short  of  the  most 
judicious  selections  can  obviate. 

His  blood  was  so  far  reinforced  with  that  of  Messenger  as  to  cause 
him  to  cross  with  success  with  the  in -bred  and  positive  mares  of  Mes- 
senger blood.  He  has  to  his  credit  Billy  Barr,  2:23f,  axid  sixteen 
heats;  Hotspur,  2:24,  and  forty-two  heats;  Fanny  Allen,  2:28^; 
Fanny  Lee,  2:294-;  Pocahontas,  2:20^;  and  Warwick,  2:29|. 

His  son,  Bacon's  Ethan  Allen,  has  I^ew  Ives,  2:28;  De  Long's 
Ethan  Allen  has  Lucca,  2:30;  Dixon's  Ethan  Allen — dam  by  Abdal- 
lah; — has  Sensation,  2:22^,  and  forty-five  heats;  Holabird's  Ethan 
Allen  has  Laura  Williams,  2:244-,  and  Charley  Mac,  2:25,  and  fifteen 
heats;  Holland's  Ethan   Allen  has   Barney  Kelley,  2:20,  and  thirty- 


DANIEL   LAMBERT.  517 

«even  heats;  and  Ethan  Allen  Jr.  has  Prince  Allen,  2:27,  and  Allen, 
■2:28:^.  The  absurdity  of  all  this  nomeuclatnre  needs  no  comment — 
ihe  only  thing  to  dim  the  celebrity  of  the  family. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  American  Ethan,  another  son,  has 
■George  H.  Mitchell,  2:26;  Favorite,  2:30;  Fanny  Raymond,  2:30. 

Honest  Allen,  another  son,  has  Prince  Allen,  2:26i;  Alton  Boy, 
■2:294;  Shakespeare,  2:30;  and  still  another — the  names  having  been 
■exhausted — called  Son  of  Ethan  Allen,  has  to  his  credit,  Clifton  Boy, 
■2:23^;  Lizzie  Kellar,  2:30;  Nira  Belle,  2:2!);  and  Zephyr,  2:30. 

His  greatest  son,  however,  is 

DANIEL    LAMBERT. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  living  stallions.  He  was 
foaled  in  1858,  and  was  owned  for  many  years  by  Edward  Bates,  Esq., 
of  Boston,  lately  deceased,  and  is  yet  held  by  the  executors  of  that 
g'entleman.  The  dam  of  Lambert  was  Fanny  Cook,  and  she  must  be 
regarded  as  a  mare  of  extraordinary  merit,  and  her  blood  was  such  as 
should  have  ofuaranteed  g-reat  merit.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Abdal- 
lah,  and  her  dam  is  asserted  to  have  been  a  daughter  of  Stockholm's 
American  Star,  son  of  Duroc,  from  a  daughter  of  Messenger.  This 
•of  itself,  going  no  further,  would  make  her  a  mare  of  great  blood 
•excellence;  but  we  are  further  assured  that  the  grandam  of  Fanny 
•Cook  was  a  Red  Bird  mare,  and  it  is  claimed  that  she  was  daughter 
•of  the  horse  Red  Bird,  by  Bishop's  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Red  Bird, 
a  thoroughbred,  which  was  brought  into  Eastern  New  York  at  a  very 
«arly  period.  This  is  now  regarded  as  the  authentic  pedigree  of 
Fanny  Cook,  the  dam  of  Daniel  Lambert,  and  so  many  other  excel- 
lent horses. 

Fanny  Cook  was  foaled  in  1854,  and  i-aised  fourteen  foals,  six  of  which 
■were  by  Ethan  Allen — the  majority  of  them  being  chestnuts  in  color. 
Such  is  the  color  of  Daniel  Lambert;  he  has  a  white  snip  on  his 
nose  and  one  hind  foot  white.  He  has  all  the  lofty  carriage,  the  fine 
form  and  the  matchless  style  of  his  sire  and  his  grandsire,  Vermont 
J31ackhawk,  in  perfection.  He  retains  much  of  the  Morgan,  and  yet 
has  engrafted  upon  it  the  real  qualities  of  the  Messenger  as  they  were 
•exhibited  in  Alidallah,  except  in  his  rough  and  homely  exterior.  He 
■seems  to  be  the  one  stallion  that  combines  Abdallah's  great  trotting,  and 
I  may  also  say,  his  rich  breeding  qualities,  with  all  the  beauty  and 
symmetry  of  Blackhawk.  Still  more,  so  far  as  it  has  yet  appeared, 
the   infirmities   inherited   from   the   dam  of  Ethan   Allen    have   been 


518  THE   MORGANS. 

overcome  and  entirely  eliminated  by  the  marvelous  healthfulness  of 
the  Blackhawk  and  Abdallah  blood.  Lambert  is  believed  to  exhibit 
no  trace  of  these  defects,  and  that  makes  him  complete.  ])aniel 
Lambert  is  also  a  trotting  stallion  of  great  superiority.  He  was  him- 
self a  good  trotter,  although  trained  but  little.  As  a  three-year-old 
he  trotted  in  2:41.  As  a  four-year-old  he  received  a  few  mares,  but 
was  not  put  into  the  stud  until  he  was  eight  years  old,  and  his  colts- 
from  his  early  service  commenced  displaying  such  superiority  as  to 
call  for  his  services,  and  demonstrate  that  he  was  to  assume  the  posi- 
tion of  one  of  the  greatest  stallions  this  country  has  produced.  Of 
the  small  number  gotten  before  he  was  five  years  old,  one  was  Abra- 
ham, that  now  appears  also  to  be  a  stallion  of  great  excellence; 
Jubilee  Lambert,  record  of  2:25;  Nonesuch,  2:25;  and  Col.  Moulton, 
2:28^ — the  two  latter  full  trotters;  and  Fanny  Lambert,  2:32,  in  a  two- 
mile  race.  The  early  promise  of  the  above  colts  fixed  the  popular 
estimate  on  the  value  of  Daniel  Lambert  as  a  sire.  His  greatest  trot- 
ter yet  produced  is  Comee,  record  of  2:19:|^,  and  «eventy-one  heats  in 
2:30  or  better.  I  append  a  list  showing  the  status  of  his  family  at 
present: 

WITHIN  2:30. 

HEATS.  TIME. 

Comee 71 3 :19 14. 

Wild  Lilly,  five  years  old 13 2 :24. 

.Jubilee  Lambert 2 2:25. 

Nonesuch 15 2 :25. 

Kitty  Cook,  by  Abraham,  son  of  Lambert.  .4 2:26. 

Flora  Belle 2:27i^,       (wagon  2 :35)- 

Aristos 3 2:2734. 

Lady  Foxie 15 2:28. 

Col.  Moulton 1 2:281^. 

Arnold 1 2:29. 

Joe  S 1 2 :30. 

WITHIN  2:40. 

Lookout 2 :32,         (by  Abraham). 

Fanny  Lambert 2 :32. 

Delightful 2:33. 

Champlain  ... 2 :37,         (by  Abraham). 

John   Lambert 2 :37. 

Goldfinder 2 :373^,         (by  John  L). 

His  son  Aristos  is  also  a  very  well  bred  horse  and  a  great  trotter^ 
having,  in  his  first  season  on  the  track  as  a  six-year-old,  made  a 
record  of  2:27^^,  and  never  lost  a  heat. 


THE   MORRILLS.  519 

Daniel  I.,ambert  is  certainly  a  horse  of  brilliant  reputation  and 
extraordinary  superiority.  I  dismiss  him  in  the  belief  that  he  will 
leave  a  reputation  unsurpassed  by  any  stallion  that  America  has  yet 
produced;  and  while  I  have  not  his  portrait  to  adorn  these  pages,  his 
brilliant  career  in  the  stud  will  furnish  adornment  for  many  pag-es  of 
future  turf  history. 

THE    MORRILLS. 

The  first  Morrill  was  foaled  about  1840.  He  was  a  black  stallion; 
was  by  the  Jennison  Horse,  son  of  Young  Bulrush,  by  Bulrush.  His 
dam  was  by  Farriiigton  Horse,  he  by  Vance  Horse,  a  son  of  imported 
Messenger;  and  just  there  this  family  obtained  their  elements  of  the 
great  trotting  horse.  He  was  a  large  horse,  weighing  over  twelve 
hundred  pounds.  He  produced  one  trotter.  Mountain  Maid,  with 
record  of  2:27f,  and  eleven  heats  in  2:30  or  better.  Morrill  was  also 
sire  of  Metacomet,  the  sire  of  Winthrop  Morrill  Jr.,  with  record  of 
2:27,  and  of  Mountain  Chief,  the  sire  of  Haviland,  2:29^. 

YOUNG    MORRILL. 

This  was  a  brown  horse,  and  was  foaled  in  1848.  He  was  by  old 
Morrill,  and  his  dam  was  by  Sherman.  He  trotted  in  2:30,  and  was 
sii'e  of  Draco,  2:30,  and  of  the  distinguished  stallion,  Fearnaught, 
with  record  of  2:23f,  and  four  heats  in  2:30;  and  Draco  was  sire  of 
Draco  Prince,  with  record  of  2:24;^^,  and  sixteen  heats  in  2:30  or 
better. 

WINTHROP    MORRILL. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  successful  stallions  of  the  Morgan  family, 
and  the  only  one  that  can  be  claimed  to  be  a  real  Morgan.  He  was 
foaled  1855,  is  a  bay  horse,  by  Young  Morrill,  his  dam  by  t|ie  Huckins 
Horse,  son  of  Royal  Morgan,  called  also  Morgan  Rattler;  his  next 
dam  by  Morgan  Eagle,  and  the  next  by  Bulrush.  He  has  two  crosses 
of  Messenger,  one  of  Duroc;  the  one  line  to  the  Vance  Horse  through 
old  Morrill,  and  the  dam  of  Morgan  Eagle  being  by  Callender,  son  of 
American  Eclipse.  But  it  is  a  matter  of  frequent  occurrence  that 
one  or  two  crosses  of  Messenger  blood  in  connection  with  genuine 
road  elements,  will  after  awhile  develop  and  produce  a  trotter  and  a 
trotting  sire. 

Such  was  the  case  with  Rhode  Island,  and  such  undoubtedly  was 
the  case  with  Golddust.  The  blood  of  Messenger  received  such 
modification  bv  the  road  elements  found  in  these  Morg^an  strains  as 
to  give   it  the  true  character  of  trotting  blood,  and  to  eliminate  all 


620  THE   MORGANS. 

racing  incHnation  from  it.  The  germ  once  planted  would  come  out, 
and  the  result  in  Winthrop  Morrill  is  a  trotting  sire  of  remarkable 
success.  He  stands  side  by  side  with  Knox  and  I^ambert,  but  is 
more  nearly  a  Morgan  than  either  of  them. 

Mr.  Levi  S.  Gould,  of  Boston,  whose  name  appears  in  an  early  part 
of  this  work,  has  furnished  me  from  his  own  pen,  the  following  account 
of  this  stallion: 

Winthrop  Morrill. — Bright  bay  horse,  with  dark  points,  star,  off  liiud 
ankle  white;  full  mane  and  tail;  height,  about  15)^  hands;  weight,  1,000 
pounds;  head,  after  the  Morgan  type^  clean  and  intelligent;  neck,  thin,  long, 
blood-like,  and  carried  in  good  style.  Shoulders  sloping  and  strong;  chest 
deej) ;  back  stout  and  beautiful  in  contour  troni  withers  to  haunches ;  barrel, 
round  and  well  ribbed  back;  tail  finely  set  on  and  well  carried;  limbs  rather 
light  in  bone,  but  well  muscled;  hind  pasterns  very  straight;  upper  bone  of 
the  forearm  let  down  low  to  the  knee ;  cannon-bialie  short ;  feet  blue,  tough 
and  excellent.     Foaled,  1856. 

Placed  in  training  when  from  three  to  four  years  old,  he  developed  wonder- 
ful speed  as  a  trotter,  and  was  entered  in  a  race  at  Providence,  R.  I.  Too 
severe  work  for  a  youngster  Caused  him  to  suddenly  shift  from  a  trot  to  a 
pace.  Repeated  attempts  failing  to  correct  the  evil  he  was.traded  to  a  jockey 
and  went  to  Maine,  where  he  passed  from  one  to  another  at  a  mere  pittance  in 
price,  finally  bringing  up  in  a  peddler's  cart.  While  in  this  menial  capacity, 
he  sired  the  chestnut  gelding  Fleetwood,  record,  2:29.  Purchased  by  Geo.  C. 
Goodale,  then  of  Winthrop,  Me.,  for  ninety  dollars,  he  was  used  for  general 
farm  work  for  a  season  and  finally  sold  to  Messrs.  Charles  G.  Jackson  and 
Jos.  G.  Rounds,  and  went  into  the  stud  at  Winthrop.  In  Mr.  Goodale's 
possession  he  was  driven  a  carefully  measured  mile  on  Winthrop  pond,  two 
men  to  a  sleigh,  without  a  break,  in  2:32,  the  last  quarter  in  the  remarkable 
time  of  33  seconds  or  a  2:12  gait,  and  was  not  up  to  his  speed  until  the  half 
mile  was  passed.  He  paced  at  that  time,  but  next  season  shifted  over,  and 
has  been  a  square  trotter  since.  His  success  in  the  stud,  always  with  common 
hard-worked  farmer's  mares  (Gen.  Knox  and  Drew  always  taking  the  best)  is 
a  matter  of  public  record.  At  the  close  of  the  season  of  1877  he  stood  num- 
ber five  on  the  list  of  sires  of  horses  trotting  in  3:30  or  better.  Said  list 
including  rt?;  which  have  trotted  in' that  time  since  the  first  record  in  this 
country,  viz :  llambletonian,  27  representatives ;  Volunteer,  10  representatives ; 
Blue  Bull,  10  representatives;  Daniel  Lambert,  9  representatives;  Winthrop 
Morrill,  7  representatives. 

Ills  get  are  uniformly  of  great  courage,  excellent  trotting  action,  and  have 
an  ai)pearance  of  higher  Ijreeding  than  would  be  expected  from  his  ancestiy. 

.  Winthrop  Morrill  was  bred  by  Rodway  Bradford,  of  Barre,  Ver- 
mont, and  was  recently  owned  by  the  late  Mr.  T,  B.  Williams,  of 
Boston.  He  is  now  owned  at  Hartland,  in  the. State  of  Maine.  His 
record  stands  at  present  as  follows: 


iiale's  green  mountain  morgan.  621 

Honest  Harry,  2:22-^,  and  fifty  heats  in  2:30  or  better;  Uncle  Abe, 
2:27;  Ed  Getchell,  2:27;  Ben  Morrill,  at  four  years  old,  2:32f,  at  six, 
2:28;  Fleetwood,  2:29;  Modoc,  2:29;  Baby  Boy,  2:29;  Sweet  Briar, 
2:32i;  Sam  Curtis,  2:28;  Belle  Morrill,  2:34;  Charley  Morrill,  2:33; 
Letrenoux's  Purity,  2:37i;  W.  Morrill,  Mich.,  2:37;  Baby  Girl,  2:45; 
Louis  Surette,  2:45;  Yellow  Dog,  2:42;  I.ady  Morrill,  2:43;  Little 
Fraud,  2:43^;  Lady  Mansfield,  2:45;  J.  G.  Morrill,  2:50,  half,  1:21,  at 
three  years  old. 

His  record  and  success  shows  the  wonderful  progress  made  in  the 
Morgan  family  by  the  introduction  of  a  small  element  of  real  trotting- 
blood.  This  stallion  will  aiford  an  excellent  cross  to  reunite  with  the 
other  Morgan  strains  in  Daniel  Lambert  and  Gen.  Knox,  although  the 
Morgan  blood  of  the  latter  horse  will  be  hard  to  find  and  can  scarcely 
be  recognized. 

bale's  greex  mountain  morgan. 

Another  branch  of  the  Morgan  family  deserving  of  notice,  as 
having  made  progress  in  the  development  of  trotting  excellence  by 
means  of  alliances  with  other  good  lines  of  blood,  are  the  various 
scions  tracing  through  Hale's  Green  Mountain  Morgan.  This  latter 
horse  was  foaled  in  1834,  and  was  a  chestnut  horse  by  Gilford  Morgan, 
son  of  Woodbury — and  his  dam  was  by  Woodbury.  Gilford,  his  sire, 
has  been  celebrated  even  among  the  Morgans  for  his  beauty  and 
unapproachable  style. 

He  is  credited  as  being  the  sire  of  Eastman  Morgan,  the  sire  of 
Little  Fred,  with  a  record  of  2:20,  and  forty-one  heats  in  2:30  or 
better.  I  have  an  impression  that  it  will  be  found  that  Eastman 
Morgan  was  by  a  son  of  Hale's  Green  Mountain  Morgan.  The  dam 
of  Little  Fred  was  by  Simpson's  Blackbird,  a  highly  bred  horse — 
almost  a  thoroughbred — but  a  trotter. 

Hale's  Morgan  was  also  the  sire  of  Morgan  Eagle,  the  sire  of 
Lady  Sutton,  with  record  of  2:30.  The  dam  of  Morgan  Eagle  was 
by  Callender,  a  son  of  American  Eclipse,  grandam  by  a  son  of 
Sherman,  and  he  showed  in  his  own  produce  and  those  that  came 
after  him  the  advance  he  had  made  in  breeding  quality. 

magna  charta. 

This  highly  successful  stallion  in  himself  and  his  progeny  proves  the 
readiness  of  the  Morgan  stock  to  receive  and  appropriate  the  good 
qualities  of  other  highly  bred  racing  and  trotting  blood.     He  was  by 


522  THE   MORGANS. 

Morgan  Eagle,  and  his  dam  was  by  Grey  Eagle.  He  has  been  claimed 
to  be  the  sire  of  the  trotter  Henry,  another  whose  dam  was  a  highly 
bred  mare  of  unknown  pedigree,  but  of  both  racing  and  trotting 
excellence.  Henry  has  been  classed  as  the  son  of  another  Morgan 
stallion,  but  the  claim  rests  ujion  the  statement  of  the  owner  of 
the  rival  stallion,  and  is  contrary  to  the  explicit  and  positive 
statement  of  the  breeder  of  Henry  and  who  was  also  the  owner 
of  his  dam.  In  view  of  these  facts,  and  that  the  rival  stallion  has 
no  other  claims  to  distinction,  I  think  it  an  effort  to  give  him  repu- 
tation at  the  expense  of  Magna  Charta  ;  and  I  credit  him  with 
Henry,  2:20:^,  and  twenty-three  heats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  as  cor- 
roborative evidence  of  his  claim,  he  also  has  Hannah  D.,  2:22:^, 
and  thirty-one  heats  in  2:30  or  better  ;  Molly,  2:27,  and  Young 
Magna,  2:29. 

1  believe  it  is  a  rule  recognized  b}^  good  authority,  in  case  of  ill- 
gotten  gains,  to  take  from  him  the  little  that  he  hath  and  give  unto 
him  that  also  has  much. 

taggart's  abdallah. 

This  is  another  of  those  lines  of  Morgan  blood  which  have  been 
brought  to  the  rank  of  roadsters  and  trotting  horses  by  union  with 
genuine  trotting  blood.  In  this  instance,  the  original  stock  has 
received  a  strong  infusion  both  from  Messenger  and  from  Trustee. 
Taggart's  Abdallah  was  foaled  in  1859.  He  was  by  Farmer's  Beauty, 
dam  Lady  Mack  by  Abdallah,  grandam  by  imp.  Trustee. 

Farmer's  Beauty  was  by  Gifford  Morgan,  son  of  Woodbury^  and 
his  dam  was  a  mare  generally  credited  to  the  Freeman  Horse,  son  of 
Ogden's  Messenger.  This  is  about  as  good  a  pedigree  for  a  roadster 
or  trotting  sire  as  could  be  found  within  the  list  of  Morgans, 

The  dam  of  Taggart's  Abdallah  was  bred  in  New  Jersey  by  Dr. 
Conover,  and  was  a  mare  of  great  superiority  in  her  day.  Her  rare 
combination  of  blood,  the  richest  anywhere  to  be  found,  would  of 
itself  make  her  a  mare  of  matchless  worth.  She  should  have  bred  a 
trotter  or  a  trotting  sire  from  any  good  roadster  stallion. 

This  horse  was  bred  and  is  owned  by  D.  M.  Taggart,  of  Goffstown, 
New  Hampshire,  and  is  described  as  a  bright  bay  horse,  fifteen  hands 
three  inches  high,  clean  and  blood- like,  and  of  excellent  disposition. 
At  the  New  England  Fair,  at  Manchester,  in  1870,  he  is  credited  with 
having  trotted  a  mile  in  2:28,  and  repeated  a  half  in  1:124- — not, 
however,  a  record  performance. 


GOLDDUST.  523 

He  has  to  his  credit  Ned  Wallace,  with  record  of  2 :25,  and  eighteen 
lieats  in  2:30  or  better,  and  Parkis'  Abdallah,  2:2(jf,  and  seven  heats 
in  2:30  or  better. 

The  form  and  blood  composition  of  this  horse  suggest  that  he 
•ought  to  be  a  valuable  roadster  stallion,  and  that  in  all  probability 
many  lines  from  him  may  yet  prove  of  great  excellence  when 
crossed  with  other  well  bred  strains.  He  is  certainly  a  horse  deserving 
of  favorable  notice. 

GOLDDUST. 

This  stallion  and  his  claim  to  distinction  find  a  proper  place  at  the 
dose  of  these  chapters.  He  was  a  stallion  of  undoubted  merit,  but 
one  to  which  I  have  hitherto  made  few  references,  and  my  apparent 
neglect  was  not  the  result  of  oversight  or  a  lack  of  appreciation,  but 
arose  from  the  fact  that  I  always  found  his  name  enveloped  in  an 
atmosphere  which  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  penetrating. 

I  am  not  acquainted  with  the  owner  or  manager  of  the  horse,  his 
peculiar  method  of  advancing  the  claims  of  the  horse  to  distinction 
being  such  as  to  debar  me  from  the  privilege  of  making  his  acquaint- 
ance. I  never  saw  Golddust,  but  have  seen  many  of  his  progeny,  and 
they  were  a  family  of  trotters.  Their  record  has  been  a  really  brill- 
iant one.  Golddust  died  in  1871  or  1872,  and  he  is  credited  with 
Lucille  Golddust,  with  record  of  2:16^,  and  thirty-seven  heats  in  2:30 
or  better;  Fleety  Golddust,  2:20,  and  twelve  heats  in  2:30  or  better; 
and  Rolla  Golddust,  2:25,  and  four  heats  in  2:30  or  better. 

But  the  interesting  question  at  once  arises,  What  was  Golddust? 
"Whence  did  he  come?  The  literature  on  that  subject  has  been 
mainly  furnished  by  his  owner,  and  it  was  of  a  character  to  add  to 
the  mystery — and  great  seemed  to  be  the  mystery.  From  the  oft- 
repeated  statements  we  gathered  from  time  to  time  that  he  was  not  a 
Messenger — had  no  Messenger  blood — was  a  breed  to  and  by  himself. 
But  from  whom  and  what  did  he  come?  Was  Golddust  in  reality 
the  ancient  sire  that  came  down  the  mountain  with  the  early  Navi- 
gator f  Did  he  spring  from  the  horse  that  was  seen  swimming  in 
mid-ocean?  I  believe  the  latter  was  a  pacer.  Was  he  descended  from 
the  sire  that  jumped  out  of  the  sloop  and  swam  ashore,  or  had  he  any 
sire?  On  all  of  these  points  we  find  it  difficult  to  obtain  satisfactory 
information  from  his  owner. 

Mr.  Wallace,  in  his  second  volume  of  the  Trotting  Hegister,  after 
paying  his  respects  to  this  sort  of  horse  heraldry  in  very  proper 
terms,  says: 


524  THE   MORGANS. 

Instead  of  there  being  any  mystery  or  anything  unusual  in  the  origin  of 
this  horse  GoUklust,  he  is  simply  the  fortunate  I'esult  of  a  cross  between  aa 
in-bred  Morgan  horse  and  a  high  bred,  perhaps  thoroughbred,  inare  of  run- 
ning blood,  lie  was  of  good  size  and  fine  style,  combining  in  his  form  most 
happily  many  of  the  best  points  of  each  type.  In  his  mental  organization, 
the  qualities  of  his  sire,  beyond  doubt,  largely  predominated,  impressing- 
upon  him  a  good  degree  of  trotting  instinct,  which,  in  his  turn,  he  has  trans- 
mitted to  his  progeny. 

Not  being  willing  to  accept  of  the  probabilities  of  the  horse  having- 
originated  in  any  of  the  foregoing  mysterious  ways,  I  have  given  the 
subject  some  consideration;  and  find  myself  also  unable  to  accept  of 
the  suggestion  made  by  Mr.  Wallace,  that  Golddust  was  "  simply  the 
fortunate  result  of  a  cross  between  an  in-bred  Morgan  horse  and  a. 
high  bred,  perhaps  thoroughbred,  mare  of  running  blood."  This  is- 
totally  at  war  with  the  often-advanced  proposition  of  the  learned- 
editor,  that  there  must  have  been  an  inheritance  resting  in  trotting- 
blood.  The  success  of  Golddust  as  a  sire  asserts  that  he  had  this, 
quality  by  inheritance.  He  transmits  so  much  of  it,  and  his  trotters- 
have  a  gait  so  uniform  and  so  much  like  real  trotters,  as  to  repel  the 
idea  that  it  could  have  come  from  a  Morgan  who  did  not  have  it,  or 
from  his  union  with  a  mare  of  racing  blood  where  it  did  not  exist. 

Two  sources  so  utterly  destitute  could  not  have  transmitted  the 
trotting  qualities  in  such  abundance.  We  must  look  for  some  other 
explanation.  A  careful  study  of  the  gait  and  way  of  going  of  such, 
of  the  Golddusts  as  have  come  under  my  observation,  has  revealed 
to  me  the  fact  that  they  were  strong  and  positive  in  their  way  of 
going,  very  demonstrative  and  much  alike  in  this  respect,  and  that 
they  all  display  more  action  than  any  of  the  other  real  trotters  of  the 
Morgan  family — totally  unlike  any  of  the  Blackhawks  in  particular.. 
The  latter  were  an  easy  going  family — not  violent  or  demonstrative — 
some  others  made  a  great  ado  with  their  front  feet,  but  did  not  dis- 
play much  gait  behind;  but  the  Golddusts  show  action  all  over,  and 
they  have  a  vigorous  and  demonstrative  propelling  power  in  their 
quarters  and  thighs.     They  are  not  second  rate  trotters  by  any  means. 

It  is  finally  ascertained  and  agreed,  on  all  sides  of  the  question, 
that  Golddust  had  a  sire,  and  that  his  name  was  Vermont  Morgan; 
and  from  recent  statements  given  to  the  public  it  appears  that  this 
Vermont  Morgan  was  brought  to  Madison  county,  Illinois,  in  1849,  by 
Mr.  J.  Y.  Sawyer;  that  Mr.  Sawyer  purchased  him  in  the  fall  of  1848 
when  two  years  old,  of  his  breeder,  Mr.  Lockwood,  of  Springfield,  Ver- 


BAHN-ARD    MOKGAIS".  525 

mont;  that  he  was  by  the  Barnard  Morgan,  and  his  dam  was  known 
as  the  Moses  F.  Chase  mare;  that  she  was  a  bay  mare  fifteen  hands 
high.  She  was  called  a  Sherman  Morg-an,  but  this  amounts  to  nothino- 
for  such  would  have  been  likely  to  have  been  the  case  in  the  absence 
of  any  known  pedigree,  as  it  was  fashionable  in  Vermont  as  late  as  that 
day  to  claim  all  the  Morgan  blood  possible  in  any  and  every  animal 
of  excellence.     She  was  a  good  roadster  but  of  unknown  blood. 

The  dam  of  Barnard  Morgan  was  a  highly  bred  mare,  sixteen  hands 
high,  and  she  it  would  seem  gave  the  Barnard  Morgan  his  size  of  fifteen 
hands  and  three-quarters  in  height,  and  doubtless  much  of  the  excel- 
lence for  which  he  was  distinguished.  After  Mr.  Sawyer  had  brought 
the  colt  Vermont  Morgan  to  Illinois,  he  found  that  he  had  become  or 
was  sterile — perfectly  impotent,  which  sometimes  occurs  with  a  young 
stallion  from  change  of  climate  and  location.  Mr.  Sawyer,  thereuj^on 
in  1855,  brought  out  from  Vermont  the  Barnard  Morgan  and  kept 
him  near  Alton,  Illinois,  until  about  1872,  the  time  of  his  death.  He 
was  a  stallion  of  great  excellence,  and  became  very  popular  in  that 
part  of  Illinois. 

In  1857  he  was  exhibited  at  St.  Louis  with  twenty-six  of  his  colts 
and  the  judges  covered  him,  as  Mr.  Sawyer  says,  from  end  to  end  with 
blue  ribbons. 

Barnard  Morgan  took  the  first  premium  of  the  Madison  County 
Fair  in  1855  and  1856,  as  best  stallion  for  roadsters.  He  has  left 
much  stock  in  that  part  of  Illinois  and  other  adjacent  parts  of  Mis- 
souri, all  noted  for  great  excellence  as  road  horses  and  many  of  them 
quite  speedy,  and  what  is  more,  their  gait  and  way  of  going  is  much 
unlike  the  other  Morgan  families  and  much  like  that  of  the  Golddusts. 
Mr.  Sawyer  sold  Vermont  Morgan  to  the  breeder  and  owner  of  Gold- 
dust,  who  succeeded  in  restoring  his  virility  and  raised  several  colts 
from  him — Golddust  among  the  number. 

We  are  informed  that  the  Barnard  Morgan  was  a  son  of  Gilford 
son  of  "Woodbury,  and  was  a  bay  horse  fifteen  hands  and  three- 
quarters  in  height,  and  weighed  about  1,150  pounds,  and  was  a  supe- 
rior trotter.  GiflFord  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  of  the  Morgans 
of  his  or  any  other  period.  He  was  the  most  popular  horse  of  the 
Morgan  family,  and  left  the  largest  jirogeny  of  any  horse  this  country 
has  produced  unless  it  be  Hambletonian.  It  is  stated  that  he  produced 
about  thirteen  hundred  foals.  There  were  so  many  lines  of  trotting 
blood  accessible  in  Vermont  in  the  localities  from  which  these  horses 
Gilford  and  Barnard  Morgan  and  Vermont  Morgan  came,  that  it  is 
34 


526  THE   MORGANS. 

easy  to  find  a  possible  source  of  trotting-  blood  wliich  would  have 
compensated  for  any  deficiency  in  the  original  Morgan  family.  Some 
such  there  must  have  been,  as  it  is  an  absolute  certainty  that  a  sire  with 
no  more  true  trotting  blood  than  Justin  Morgan  or  Woodbury,  his  son, 
could  never  have  transmitted  to  the  son  of  such  a  mare  as  the  dam 
of  Golddust,  trotting  qualities  so  marked  and  impressive  as  have  been 
exhibited  by  this  stallion. 

The  indications  in  the  anatomy  and  the  manner  of  going  of  the 
Golddust  family  indicate  so  very  clearly  to  my  mind  the  possible 
orio-in  of  their  trotting  blood  in  a  Duroc- Messenger,  that  I  have  been 
strongly  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  dam  of  Vermont  Morgan  or  of 
Barnard  Morgan  may  have  been  a  daughter  of  Cock  of  the  Rock, 
whose  stay  in  Vergennes,  Addison  county,  Vt.,  from  1820  to  1829,  left 
so  majiy  mares  in  that  State  whose  blood  and  trotting  qualities  enter 
into  so  large  a  list  of  the  Morgans  and  other  roadster  stallions  of  that 
State  as  to  render  it  an  easy  task  to  solve  the  mystery,  if  there  be 
any  mystery,  in  the  trotting  instinct  and  cajDacity  of  the  Golddust 
family. 

The  blood  of  Bishop's  Hambletonian  is  scarcely  found  in  the 
Morgans  as  frequently  as  that  of  Cock  of  the  Rock.  A  daughter 
of  the  latter  was  the  dam  of  Morgan  Cock  of  the  Rock,  another  was 
dam  of  Blackhawk  Champion,  another  was  dam  of  Lone  Star,  and 
another  was  dam  of  Robin — all  Morgan  stallions,  and  still  another  was 
dam  of  the  Wiley  Colt,  also  called  Vermont  Morgan,  a  horse  which  has 
by  many  been  confounded  with  this  other  Vermont  Morgan,  the 
sire  of  Golddust.  Mr.  Murray,  Ur.  Harvey,  and  many  of  the  current 
journals  of  the  country,  credit  Golddust  to  this  Wiley  Colt,  but  in  this 
they  are  in  error.  His  sire  was  the  son  of  Barnard  Morgan,  son  of  Gif- 
ford,  as  I  have  already  stated ;  but  the  Golddust  family,  in  their  confor- 
mation and  way  of  going,  su]i]ily  evidence  which  indicates  to  my  mind 
their  undovibted  origin  in  one  of  these  daughters  of  Cock  of  the  Rock. 
Their  trait  is  nothina^  like  that  of  the  Vermont  Hambletonian s.  Phil 
Sheridan,  son  of  Creeper,  a  Morgan  horse,  was  from  a  grey  mare  of 
that  Vermont  Messenger  blood,  and  in  his  gait  he  very  closely 
resembles  the  stallions  Cuyler  and  Joe  Brown ;  but  the  Golddusts  and 
some  of  the  produce  of  Blackhawk  Champion,  which  I  have  seen,  trot 
as  though  they  came  from  one  family,  not,  however,  like  the  Black- 
ha%Yks.  Their  gait  has  more  stifle,  and  more  of  the  so-called  hock- 
action,  a  more  powerful  display  in  the  stifles  and  rear  projiellers;  and 
after  a  close  study  of  several   members  of  the  family,  all  displaying 


PROBABLY   A   DUROC-MESSElSrGEK.  527 

traits  very  similar,  in  the  absence  of  any  positive  and  absolutely 
authentic  testimony  on  the  subject,  I  shall  reject  all  mystery  in  the 
origin  of  their  trotting-  qualities,  and  rest  in  the  belief  that  if  the 
true  pedigree  is  ever  ascertained  it  will  trace  to  Cock  of  the  Rock, 
son  of  Duroc,  out  of  Romp,  by  imported  Messenger.  The  indications 
of  that  blood  are  so  unmistakable  to  my  mind  that  I  should  not  ex- 
perience any  concern  for  a  different  or  a  better  solution  of  the  whole 
supposed  mystery. 

Those  who  have  seen  the  trotting  action  of  the  progenv  of  Cham- 
pion Blackhawk,  owned  in  Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  can  not  have  failed 
to  notice  two  facts:  first,  that  the  action  of  the  family  is  different  from 
the  other  Blackhawks,  and  second,  that  it  is  almost  identical  with 
that  of  the  Golddusts,  This  horse  Champion  Blackhawk  was  owned 
in  Central  Ohio  for  a  time,  and  left  some  very  excellent  roadsters  in 
that  region.  He  was  by  Vermont  Blackhawk,  dam  by  Cock  of  the 
Rock,  and  I  strongly  suspect  that  another  daughter  of  the  same  stal- 
lion bore  this  horse  Barnard  Morgan,  although  my  belief  has  no  other 
support  than  that  which  is  given  above — that  of  locality,  time,  and 
the  marked  similiarity  of  the  blood  traits  and  ways  of  going  found  in 
the  same  families.  I  have  seen  three  stallion  sons  of  Golddust  which 
bore  the  most  striking  resemblance  in  form  and  manner  of  going  to 
the  stallion  Rhode  Island,  enough  to  excite  a  strong  belief  that  they 
also  bore  to  him  the  relation  of  a  controlling  kinship  in  blood. 

Golddust  was  foaled  in  1855,  and  was  sixteen  hands  high,  and  an 
early  trotter.  He  trotted  a  mile  in  three  minutes  as  a  three-year-old. 
These  will  be  recognized  as  Duroc-Messenger  characteristics,  and  a 
wide  departure  from  the  pretended  in-bred  Morgan  origin  of  the 
family. 

The  stallion  Rhode  Island  was  a  great  trotter,  and  a  trotting  sire, 
and  the  only  line  of  trotting  blood  he  possessed  came  from  Cock  of 
the  Rock,  a  Duroc-Messenger;  and  if  it  be  found  that  the  dam  of 
Barnard  Morgan  was  by  Cock  of  the  Rock,  the  inheritance  of  Gold- 
dust  is  not  only  accounted  for,  but  his  peculiar  gait  is  also  ex- 
plained. The  latter  peculiarity  finds  abundant  explanation  if  we 
look  further  into  the  pedigree  of  Cock  of  the  Rock.  His  dam  was 
Romp,  and  her  dam  was  the  imported  PotSos  mare,  and  her  dam  was 
by  Gimcrack — the  starting  point  of  the  long  thigh — the  index  fino-er 
which  controls  this  matter  of  gait  in  so  many  families  and  branches 
of  our  American  trotters. 

At  this  point,  after  this  long  but  perhaps  incomplete  review  of  our 


528  THE   MORGAlSrS. 

American  Trotting-  Families  and  great  Roadster  Stallions,  with  what 
propriety  may  I  refer  to  the  cons})icuous  position  and  eminent  dis- 
tinction maintained  by  those  of  the  Duroc-Messenger  class.  Their 
character  so  clearly  marked,  their  physical  conformation,  their  psy- 
chological organism,  their  universal  breeding  qualities,  and  their 
unrivaled  trotting  excellence,  all  combining  to  place  them  in  the  most 
pre-eminent  distinction  as  a  family  of  trotters  of  world-wide  celebrity. 
And  such  a  list  as  they  present  in  Administrator,  Almont,  Abdallah 
Chief,  Alhambra,  Blackwood,  Daniel  Lambert,  Florida,  and  probably 
Golddust,  Gov.  S])rague,  Idol,  Lysander,  Mambrino  Chief,  Mambrino 
Patchen,  Magna  Charta,  Messenger  Duroc,  Morgan  Eagle,  Rhode  Island, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Swigert,  the  Star  family  in  so  great  numbers, 
and  Volunteer — how  long  is  the  list  and  how  great  is  their  renown, 
all  displaying  traits  and  qualities  distinctly  traceable  to  the  matchless 
union  of  two  great  families. 

And  this  brings  me  with  a  very  appropriate  suggestion  to  the  close 
of  these  chapters.  We  have  uniformly  found  that  great  qualities 
did  not  come  by  accident.  Their  origin  may  not  have  been  known 
or  clearly  understood,  but  science,  reason,  common  sense,  and  the 
most  profound  philosophy  lay  at  the  foundation  of  all  acquired  or 
transmitted  excellences.  Breeding  is  a  science,  and  while  great 
results  may  have  come  by  ways  not  marked  and  outlined  by  clearly 
understood  methods,  the  result  has  been  achieved  in  spite  of  the  lack 
of  knowledge,  and  not  as  the  fruit  of  ignorance  or  because  intelligent 
action  was  not  the  highway  of  success. 


APPENDI 


ALPHABETICAL    LIST 

OF  THE  HORSES  WHICH  HAD  TROTTED  IN  2:25  OR  BETTER.  BY  THE  RECORD, 

PRIOR  TO    JANUARY,  1878,  GIVING  THE  PEDIGREES   OF  THE 

SAME  SO  FAR  AS  THEY  ARE   AUTHENTICATED. 


Adelaide — 2:21i/^;  by  Phil  Sheridan,  son  of  Young  Columbus,  dam  unknown. 

Albemarle — 2:20;  by  Tom  Hunter,  dam  by  Blucher(?) 

Albert — 2:24^;  unknown. 

Alley — 2:24;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  New  York  Blackhawk. 

Allie  West — 2:25;  by  Almont,  dam  bj^  Mambrino  Chief. 

American  Girl — 2:16J^ ;  by  Amos'  C.  M.  Clay,  dam  said  to  be  by  Contract. 

Amy — 2:221^;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  Hambletonian. 

Amy  B. — 2:24i4;  by  Winnebago,  dam  by  Black  Jack. 

Annie  Collins — 2  -.2^% ;  unknown. 

Anodyne — 2:25;   by  the  Ross  Colt,  grandson  of  Young  Harpinus,  dam  by 
Young  Hogarth. 

Badger  Q\r\—2  •.22}{ ;  by  Black  Flying  Cloud,  son  of  Vermont  Backhawk. 

Banquo — 2 :21 ;  said  to  be  by  Blanco,  son  of  Iron's  Cadmus. 

Barney  Kelley — 2 :25 ;  by  Holland's  Ethan  Allen. 

Bashaw  Jr. — 2-M%\  by  Green's  Basliaw,  dam  by  Green  Mountain  Morgan. 

Bella — 2:22;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Jupiter. 

Belle  Brassfield— 2:25,  (2:28i.^,  July,  1878);  by  son  of  Viley's  Cripple,  dam  by 
Mambrino  Chorister. 

Bill  Thunder— 2 :25 ;  by  Union  Clay,  son  of  American  Clay,  dam  by  Alexan- 
der's Abdallah. 

Billy  Barr— 2 :23% ;  by  Ethan  Allen. 

Billy  Ray — 2:23%;  by  Wood's  Hambletonian,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah. 

Blackbird— 2 :22 ;  by  Simpson's  Blackbird. 

Blackwood  Jr. — 2:221/2^  by  Blackwood,  dam  by  Mambrino  Chief. 

Blanche— 2 :23i^ ;  by  Young  Morrill. 

Blue  Mare — 2:23;   by  Wood's  Hambletonian,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah, 
dam  by  Potter's  Clay.  ' 

(529) 


530  APPENDIX. 

Bodine — 3:1914';  hy  Volunteer,  dam  by  Harry  Clay. 
Bonner — 2:28;  by  son  of  Americ-an  Star,  dam  unknown. 
Breeze — 2:24;  by  Hambletonian,  out  of  Kate,  the  dam  of  Bruno. 
Brother  Jonathan — 2 :24 ;  by  the  Potter  Horse. 
Brown  Dick--2:24i^;  by  son  of  American  Star. 

Calmar — 2:2^12;  by  Bourbon  Chief,  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  dam  by  Bolivar 
Camors — 2:19%;  by  Gen.  Knox,  dam  unknown. 
Carrie — 3:243^^;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Castle  Boy — 2 :21 ;  by  Gooding's  Champion,  dam  unknown. 
Champion  Jr. — 2:24;  by  Mambrino  Champion,  dam  by  the  Nickson  Horse. 
Charley  Mac — 2 :25 ;  by  Holbird's  Ethan  Allen. 

Chicago  or  Jim  Rockey — 3:24% ;  by  Ole  Bull,  son  of  Pilot  Jr.,  dam  by  Amer- 
ican Eclip.se. 
Clementine — 2:31;  bj^  Addison  Jr.,  grandson  of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  dam 

unknown. 
Clifton  Boy— 2 :23i^ ;  by  son  of  Ethan  Allen. 
Comee — 2:1934^;  by  Daniel  Lambert,  dam  by  imp.  Balrownie. 
Commodore — 2 :25 ;  by  Post  Boy,  dam  by  Edward  Everett. 
Commodore  Vanderbilt — 2 :25 ;  by  Young  Columbus. 
Commonwealth — 3 :33 ;  by  Phil  Sheridan,  son  of  Young  Columbus,  dam  by 

Young  St.  Lawrence. 
Cozette — 2:19;  by  Blumberg's  Black  Bashaw,  dam  unknown. 
Crown  Prince — 2:25;  by  Logan's  Messenger,  son  of  State  of  Maine,  dam  by 

Warrior. 
Damon — 3:23%;  by  Ames'  Bogus,  dam  by  a  son  of  Bush  Messenger. 
Dan  Bryant — 2:24;  by  Plow  Boy,  son  of  Excelsior,  dam  by  Cone's  Bacchus. 
Dan  Voorhies — 2  ■.2'6}4^ ;  by  Gen.  McClellan,  son  of  old  Drew. 
Deception— 3 :33i^. 

Defiance — 3:24;  by  Chieftain,  son  of  Hiatoga. 
Dexter — 3  ■.l"}^  ;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Dick  Swiveler— 3 :23 ;  by  Walkill  Chief,  dam  by  Harry  Clay. 
Dick  Taylor — 2 :34i^ ;  by  Bob  Didlake,  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  dam  by  Star 

Davis. 
Draco  Prince — 2 :24}4 ;  I'y  Draco,  son  of  Young  Morrill,  dam  by  Vermont 

Blackhawk. 
Driver — 2:35;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Ella  Wright — 3:34%;     by    Trojan,    son  of  Jackson's  Blackhawk,  dam   by 

Vaughn's  Hercules. 
Elsie  Good — 2:2'S}4;  ^y  Blue  Bull,  dam  by  Alexander's  Abdallah. 
Everett  Ray— 2 :25 ;  by  Edward  Everett. 

Fearnaught— 2:2834;  1'y  Young  Morrill,  dam  by  Steve  French  Horse. 
Fleety  Golddust — 2:20;  by  Golddust,  dam  a  Morgan  mare. 
Flora  Belle,  3:32%;  by  Stevens'  Uwharie,  dam  unknown. 
Flora  Temple — 2:19%;  by  One-Eyed  Kentucky  Hunter,  or  by  a  horse  of  the 

Bogus  family,  dam  by  Spotted  Arabian. 
Frank — 2:20;  by  Pathfinder,  3d  grands(m  of  Vermont  Blackhawk. 
Frank  Jr. — 3 :28%  ;  unknown. 


APPENDIX.  531 

Frank  Reeves — 2:2'3^_l'^  ^Y  Skedaddle,  son  of  Whiteside's  Blackhawk,  dam  by 
Dallas. 

Frank  Vernon  (Panic) — 2:25;  by  Sherman  Blackhawk. 

Frank  Wood — 2:24;  by  Volunteer,  dain  bj-  sou  of  American  Star. 

Fred  Hooper — 2 :  28 ;  by  Royal  Revenge,  dam  unknown. 

Gazelle — 2:21;  by  Hambletouian,  dam  by  Harry  Claj^. 

Gen.  Butler — 2: 2:314;  by  Smith  Burr,  son  of  Napoleon. 

Gen.  Garfield — 2:21;  by  Kentucky  Blackhawk,  dam  by  Capt.  Walker. 

Gen.  Grant — 2:21;   by  Wapsie,   sou  of   Green's  Bashaw,  dam   by  Hanley's 
Hiatoga. 

George — 2:24i2;  ''J  Parris'  Hambletouian. 

Geo.  B.  Daniels— 2 :  24 ;  by  Champion  Jr.  (King's),  dam  by  Greyhound. 

Geo.  M.  Patchen— 2 :  233^ ;  by  C.  M.  Clay,  dam  unkuowu. 

Geo.  Palmer — 2:191^;  by  Ames'  Bogus,  dam  by  Harry  Clay. 

Geo.  Wilkes — 2:22;  by  Hambletouian,  dam  by  Henry  Clay. 

Gloster — 2:17;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  Stockbridge  Chief. 

Goldsmith  Maid— 2: 14;  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  dam  by  Old  Abdallah. 

Gov.  Sprague — 2:20i2;  hy  Rhode  Island,  dam  by  Hambletouian. 

Graftou — 2:22^^;  by  Waxy,  dam  by  Kavanaugh's  Grey  Eagle. 

Great  Eastern — 2:19  (saddle,  3:16%);  by  Walkill  Chief,  dam  by  a  son  of  imp. 
Consternation. 

Green  Mountain  Maid — 2:24;3:^;  by  Harris'  Hambletonian. 

Hannah  D. — 2 :  22\j' ;  bj^  Magna  Charta,  son  of  Morgan  Eagle. 

Hannis — 2 :  I9I4  ;  by  Mambrino  Pilot. 

Harry  Clay— 2 :  23;i£ ;  by  Strader's  C.  M.  Clay  Jr. 

Henry — 2 :  20}4  ;  by  Magna  Charta,  also  claimed  by  Harry  Lathrop,  dam  un- 
known. 

Hiram  Woodruff— 2:25;  Ijy  Phil  Sheridan,  s(m   of  Young  Columbus,  dam  by 
Grey  Eagle. 

Honest  Harry— 2 :22i^  ;  by  Winthrop  Morrill. 

Hopeful — 2:1714;  by  Godfrej''s  Patchen,  dam  by  the  Bridham  Horse. 

Hotspur — 2:24;  bj' Ethan  Allen,  dam  by  Abdallah. 

Huntress — 2 :  20% ;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  American  Star. 

Hylas — 2:241^;  by  Alcalde,  son  of  Mambrino  Chief,  dam  l)y  Pilot  Jr. 

Idol — 2:23;  by  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  dam  by  Long  Island  Blackhawk. 

Irene — 2:24;  by  Dust}'  Miller,  alias  Roddy  Horse,  son  of  Canada  Grey  Eagle, 
dam  by  Abdallah. 

James  Howell  Jr. — 2:24;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Harry  Clay. 

Jay  Gould — 2:21i^;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  American  Star. 

Jennie — 2:22%\  by  Red  Eagle,  dam  l)y  Pataskala. 

Jennie  Holton — 2:22;  by  Kentuckj-  Whij)  (of  Michigan.) 

Jim  Irving — 2:23;  by  Young  Melbourne,  dam  l)y  Lear's  Sir  AVilliam. 

Joe  Brown — 2:22;  by  Woodward's  Rattler. 

Joe  Ripley — 2 :  25. 

John  H. — 2:21;  by  Blumberg's  Black  Bashaw. 

John  Morgan  (Medoc) — 2:24;  by  Pilot  Jr.,  dam  by  Medoc. 

John  Murphy  Jr. — 2:25;  hy  Delmonico,  son  of  Guy  Miller,  dam  by  Glencoe. 

John  Taylor— 2:25. 


632  APPENDIX. 

Jolin  W.  Hall— 2:25;  by  Independent. 

John  W.  Couley— 2:24;  by  Tom  Wonder,  dam  by  Al)dall!di. 

Joker— 2  :  22 V^  ;  by  Parris'  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Vermont  Hambletonian. 

Joseph  A.— 2:24;  by  Sackett's  Hambletonian. 

Jubilee  Lambert— 2:25;  by  Daniel  Lambert. 

Judge  Fullerton— 2:18;  by  Edward  Everett,  dam  unknown. 

Kansas  Chief— 2:21>4^;  by  son  of  Jo.sei)hus. 

Keen  Jim— 2:24^^;  by  Keen's  Lookout,  son  of  Bourbon  Chief,  dam  by  Mor- 
gan Rattler. 

Kilbourn  Jim— 2:28;  by  Wood's  Hambletonian,  dam  a  Morgan  mare. 

King  Philip— 2:21 ;  by  Jay  Gould,  dam  l)y  Hambletonian. 

Kirkwood— 2 :  24 ;  by  Green's  Bashaw,  dam  by  Green  Mountain  Morgan. 

Lady  Banker — 2:23;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  unknown. 

Lady  Blanehard— 2:24,1/2  ;  by  Whipple's  Hambletonian. 

Lady  Foxie— 2 :25 ;  by  Daniel  Lambert. 

Lady  Lockwood— 2 :25 ;  by  Neave's  C.  M.  Clay  Jr.,  dam  by  Alexander  W. 

Lady  Mac— 2:23;  by  Whirlwind. 

Lady  Maud— 2:1814:;  by  Gen.  Knox,  dam  unknown. 

Lady  Pritchard— 2:2234";  W  Green  Mountain  Banner,  dam  by  Flying  Morgan. 

Lady  Star— 2 :24 ;  by  Henry,  sou  of  American  Star. 

Lady  Snell— 2:2314; ;   ])y  Godfrey's  Patchen,  dam  by  Biggart's  Rattler. 

Lady  Thorn— 2:18 1^;  by  Mambrino  Chief,  dam  by  Gano. 

Lady  Turpin— 2:23;  by  Bell  Morgan,  grandson  of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  dam 
by  Brignoli. 

Laura  Williams— 2:241-^;  by  Holabird's  Ethan  Allen. 

Lew  Scott— 2:231-2;  by  Scott's  Hiatoga. 

Lida  Ba.ssett— 2 :25 ;  by  Forest  King. 

Little  Fred— 2:20  ;  by  Eastman's  Morgan,  son  of  Hale's  Green  Mountain 
Morgan,  dam  by  Blackbird. 

Little  Gipsy— 2:22;  by  Shawhan's  Tom  Hall. 

Little  Mary— 2 :25 ;  by  Billy  Mustapha. 

Lucille  Golddust— 2:16i4^;  by  Golddust,  dam  by  Bald  Hornet. 

Lucy— 2:1814:;  ])y  G.  M.  Patchen,  dam  by  May  Day. 

Lula — 2:15;  l)y  Alexander's  Norman,  dam  by  imp.  Hooton. 

Lysander  Boy — 2 :  23  ;  by  Lysander. 

Magenta— 2:241^';  by  Woodford  Mambrino,  dam  by  Alexander's  Abdallah. 

Major  Allen— 2 :  2414: ;  by  Young  Elhan  Allen. 

Mambrino  Gift— 2:20;  by  Mambrino  Pilot,  dam  by  Pilot  Jr. 

Mambrino  Kate— 2:24i^;  by  Mambrino  Patchen,  dam  by  State  of  Maine. 

Marion— 2:233^;  by  Tom  Crowder. 

Martha  Washington— 2:201.^;  by  grandson  of  L.  I.  Blackhawk. 

Mattie — 2:22;i£;  by  Hambletonian,  dam  by  Young  Engineer. 

May  Bird — 2:21;  by  Geo.  Wilkes,  dam  by  Nonpareil,  son  of  L.  I.  Blackhawk. 

May  Howard— 2:24;  by  Capt.  Hanford. 

May  .(Jueen — 2:20;    by  Ali'xander's  Norman,  dam  by  Crockett's  Arabian. 

Mazomanie — 2:20i4';  by  Kurt/  Horse,  son  of  Paul  Jones,  son  of  Columbus, 
dam  by  Bellfounder  (V) 


APPENDIX.  533 

Midnight— 2 :  22^4^,  (2 :20,  July,  1878) ;  by  Peacemaker,  son  of  Hambletonian, 

dam  by  son  of  Hiram  Drew. 
Mohawk  Jr. — 2 :25 ;  by  Moliawk,  son  of  L.  I.  Blackhawk. 
Mollie  Morris — 2:22;  by  a  French  pacing  pony. 
Molsey— 2 :21%  ;  by  Wliiteside's  Blackhawk,  dam  by  Dallas. 
Monroe  Chief— 2:25;  by  Jim  Monroe,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah. 
Mountain  Boy— 2 :20^:£ ;  by  Edward  Everett,  dam  by  Gridley's  Roebuck. 
Music— 2:211^;  by  Middletown,  dam  by  Fiddler. 

Myron  Perry — 2:24)^;  by  Young  Columbus,  dam  by  Hopkins'  Abdallah. 
Mystic — 2:22;  byEeliance,  son  of  C.  M.  Clay. 
Ned  Wallace— 2 :  25 ;  by  Taggart's  Abdallah,  son  of  Gilford. 
Nellie  Irwin — 2 :  25 ;  by  Middletown. 
Nettie — 2:18;  b}'  Hambletonian,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Nettie  Burlew — 2:24;  by  Champion  Jr.  (King's.) 

Nerea — 2:23i4  ;  by  John  Nelson,  son  of  imp.  Trustee,  dam  by  Gen.  Taylor. 
Nil  Desperandum — 2:24i2;  b}' Belmont,  son  of  Alexander's  Abdallah. 
Nutwood — 2:23)^;  by  Belmont,  dam  by  Pilot  Jr. 
■Oakland  Maid — 2:22;  by  Speculation,  son  of  Hambletonian. 
Observer — 2 :24i4; ;  by  the  Holmes  Horse,  grandson  of  Sherman  Blackhawk, 

dam  unknown. 
Occident — 2:16^:^;  by  Dot,  son  of  pacer  St.  Clair,  dam  unknown. 
Orient— 2:24;  by  Smith's  Patcheu. 
Pat  Hunt— 2:25;  by  Tecumseh,  son  of  Pilot. 

Pilot  Temple— 2 :24i^ ;  by  Pilot  Jr.,  out  of  the  dam  of  Flora  Temple. 
Planter— 2 :24i^' ;  by  Red  Bird. 

Powers — 2:213^;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Prince — 2:2A%\  by  Long  Island  Blackhawk,  dam  unknown. 
Proctor— 2 :23 ;  by  Mambrino  Chief  Jr.,  dam  by  Vermont  Hambletonian. 
Prospero — 2 :20 ;  by  Messenger  Duroc,  dam  by  Harry  Clay. 
Proline- 2 :24,  (2:21,  July,  1878);  by  Blackwood,  dam  by  Mambrino  Chorister. 
Randall — 2:24i^;  by  J.  T.  Brady,  dam  unknown. 
Rarus— 2:1434",  (Jul J',  1878);  by  Conklin's  Abdallah,  believed  to  be  a  son  of 

Hambletonian,  dam  by  Telegraph,  son  of  C.  M.  Clay. 
Red   Cloud— 2:18;  by  Legal  Tender,  son  of  Moody's  Davy   Crockett,  dam 

unknown. 
Rhode  Island— 2:231^;  by  Whitehall,  dam  by  Nigger  Baby. 
Richard— 2:211^;  by  Blue  Bull,  dam  by  Sir  Leslie. 
Ripon  Boj-— 2:25;  by  Ira  Allen,  dam  by  Wiley's  Blucher. 
Rolla  Golddust— 2:25;  by  Golddust. 
Rosalind— 2 :21?4;    by    Alexander's  Abdallah,  dam  by  Brown  Pilot,  son  of 

Copper-bottom. 
Sam  Purdy— 2:201^;  by  Geo.  M.  Patchen  Jr.,  dam  by  Illinois  Medoc. 
Scotland— 2:223^;  by  imp.  Bonnie  Scotland,  dam  by  Pilot  Jr. 
Sea  Foam — 2:24)^;  by  Young  Columbus. 

Sensation — 2:22,^;  by  Dixon's  Ethan  Allen,  dam  by  Indian  Cliief. 
Shepherd  Boy— 2:233^;  by  Cornell's  Ethan  Allen. 
Sheridan— 2 :23 ;  by  Edward  Everett. 


584  APPENDIX. 

Silas  Rich — 2:24?:^;  by  imp.  Young  Priam,  (lain  unknown. 

Silvcrsidcs — 2:  28 ;  unlvnown. 

Sleepy  John — 2 :2-li^  ;  unknown. 

Slow  Go— 3:18)^;  by  Young  Sharatuck,  a  grandson  of  Medoc. 

Smuggler — 3:15i4^;  by  Blanco,  son  of  Iron's  Cadmus,  dam  by  Tuckahoe. 

St.  James — 2:23^.2;  by  Gooding's  Champion,  dam  unknown. 

St.  Julien — 2:22'^3;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  Harr^'  Clay. 

Susie — 2:21 ;  by  Hampshire  Boy,  a  grandson  of  Vermont  Blackhawk,  dam  by 

son  of  Blackhawk. 
Tanner  Boy— 3  :22^ ;  by  Edward  Everett. 

Thormlale — 2 :22,i4  ;  by  Alexander's  Abdallah,  dam  by  Mambrino  Chief. 
Thomas  Jcft'erson — 2: 33 ;  by  Toronto  Chief,  out  of  Gipsy  Queen. 
Thomas  L.  Young — 3:193^,  by  Y'ellow  Jacket,  dam  by  Dragon. 
Tom  Keeler — 2:25;  by  Jersey  Star. 
Tommy  Gates— 2 :25  ;  by  The  Moor. 
Trampoline — 2:35;  by  Tramp. 

Trio — 2 :2'd}£ ;  by  Volunteer,  dam  by  American  Star. 
Unknown — 2 :23 ;  unknown. 
Vanity  Fair— 2:25;  by  Albion,  dam  unknown. 
Voltaire — 2:3134! ;  by  Tattler,  dam  by  Mambrino  Chief. 
Vulcan — 2 :35 ;  by  Green  Mountain  Banner. 
VV.  H.  Allen — 3:23i.^;  by  Volunteer,  dam  unknown. 
White  Stockings— 3:21. 
Wild  Lily — 2 :24 ;  by  Daniel  Lambert. 

Woodford  Chief— 2  -.22^4 ;  by  Clark  Chief,  dam  by  Billy  Townes. 
Y^ork  State — 2 :23i4  ;  by  Gooding's  Champion. 
Young  Bruno — 3:33j^ ;  by  Hambletonian,  out  of  Old  Kate,  the  dam  of  Bruno. 


RECORD  OF  PERFORMANCES. 

Good  judges  maintain  that  a  horse  is  able  to  trot  under  the  saddle  in  three 
seconds  faster  than  when  in  harness,  (i.  e.,  harnessed  to  a  sulky),  and  in  six 
seconds  faster  than  when  harnessed  to  a  wagon.  As  the  great  majority  of 
races  are  now  "  in  harness,"  when  a  record  is  mentioned,  it  is  generally  under- 
stood as  "  in  harness  "  time,  unless  especially  stated  to  the  contrary. 

ONE   MILE. 

//(   Harness. 


Goldsmith  Maid 3 :14  American  Girl 2 

Rarus 3 :14l4  Occident 3 

Lula 2 :15  Gloster 3 

Smuggler 3 :15^  Dexter 2 

Lucille  Golddust 2 :16i4  Hopeful 2 


16^ 
17 

17M 


To  .'saddle. 
Great  Eastern 2  -.15% 


APPENDIX.  535 


TAVO    ]N[ILES. 

In  Harness. 

Flora  Temple— Eclipse  Course,  L.  I.,  Aug.  16,  1859 ;  4 :50i^. 

Dexter — Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  June  14, 1867;  4:51. 

Geo.  M.  Patchen— Union  Course,  L.  I.,  .June  13,1860;  4:53,^. 

Reindeer— Louisville,  .June  21,  1860 ;  4  :58. 

Gen  Butler— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  July  33,  1867 ;  4 :59. 

Dreadnaught— Fleetwood  Park,  N.  Y.,  June  29,  1870;  4:59i^. 

Tennessee— June  11,  1873;  5:00. 

John  Morgan— Louisville,  Oct.  25,  1860 ;  5 :00i/^. 

Stonewall  Jackson — Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  Oct.  4,  1864;  5:01. 

Princess — Eclipse  Course,  L.  I.,  June  33,  1859 ;  5 :03. 

To  Saddle. 

Geo.  M.  Patchen— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  July  1,  1863 ;  4 :56. 

Lady  Suffolk— Centreville,  L.  I.,  Sept.  34,  1840;  4:59. 

Shark— Union  Course,  L.  I.,  June  37,  1866 ;  5  m^. 

Tacony— Union  Course,  L.  I.,  Sept.  37,  1853;  5:02. 

Silas  Rich— Chicago,  Sept.  9, 1867 ;  5 :04. 

Edwin  Forrest— Philadelphia,  May  6,  1840 ;  5 :05. 

To    Wagon. 

Gen.  Butler — Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  June  18,  1863;  4:56i4'. 

Dexter— Long  Island,  Oct.  27,  1865;  4:56i4. 

Flora  Temple— Centreville,  L.  I.,  Oct.  17,  1855;  4:57. 

Geo.  M.  Patchen — Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  June  18,  1863 ;  5  :04. 

THREE    MILES. 

In   Harness. 
Himtress— Prospect  Park,  L.  I.,  Sept.  23,  1872;  7:213^. 

TEN    MILES. 

In  Harness. 

John  Stewart— Riverside,  Boston,  June  30,  1868 ;  28 :023^. 
Prince— Union  Course,  L.  I.,  Nov.  11,  1853;  38:08i'2. 
Captain  Magowan — Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Nov.  3,  1860;  38:llJ/2. 
Gipsy  Queen— Louisville,  Ky.,  Oct.  37,  1861,  38:39. 
Julia  Aldrich— San  Francisco,  June  15,  1858;  29:041-^. 
Mattie  Howard— San  Francisco,  Dec.  35,  1873;  39:13^. 
Duchess— 1856 ;  39:17. 

Gen  Taylor— San  Francisco,  Feb.  6,  1857;  39:41i^. 
Fanny  Jenks— Oct.  3,  1844;  29:59. 

To  Wagon. 
Princess— San  Francisco,  March  2,1859;  29:10^. 


636  APPENDIX. 

TWENTY     MILKS. 

///  Harnesd, 

Captain  Magowan — Riverside,  Boston,  Oct.  18,  IHfiS;  58:25. 
John  Stewart— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  1808;  58:80. 
Trustee— Union  Course,  Oct.  20,  1855;  biiM^i- 
Lady  Fulton— Centreville,  L.  I.,  July  12,  1855 ;  59 :55. 

To   Wagon. 
John  Stewart— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  Sept.  22,  1868;  59:23. 

FIFTY     MILES. 

In  Harness. 

Black  Joke— Providence,  R.  I.,  July,  1835;  31i.  5Ts. 
Ariel- 1846 ;  3h,  55m,  40i^s. 

7'o    Wagon. 
Spangle— Oct.  15,  1855 ;  3h,  59m,  4s. 

ONE    HUNDRED    MILES, 

Ji)  Harness. 

Conqueror— Centreville,  L.  I.,  Nov.  12,  1853 ;  8h,  55m,  53s. 
Fanny  Jenks— Albany,  N.  Y.,  May  5,  1845 ;  9h,  38m,  34s. 
Fanny  Murray— Albany,  N.  Y.,  May  15,  1846 ;  9h,  41m,  26s. 
Kate— Centerville,  L.  I.,  June  7,  1850;  9h,  49m,  ^s. 
Tom  Thumb— Sunbury  Com.,  Eng.,  Feb.  2,  1829;  lOh,  7m. 

ONE    MILE. 

Double   Harness. 

Joe  Clark  and  Mollie  Morris— Mystic  Park,  Sept.  3,  1874;  2:261^. 
Jessie  Wales  and  Darkness — 2:27;^}!. 

George  Wilkes  and  Honest  Allen— Boston,  July  4,  1871 ;  2 :28. 
Kirkwood  and  Idol -Prospect  Park,  May  31,  1870;  2:29. 
Jessie  Wales  and  Honest  Allen— Boston,  Sept.  30,  1869;  2:29'i^. 
Black  Harry  and  Belle  Strickland— Narragansett,  Oct.  5,  1869;  2:80. 
Honest  Allen  and  Kirkwood— Prospect  Park,  July  21,  1870;  2:30. 
India  Rubber  Ben  and  Mate— Milwaukee,  Sept.  30,  1869;  2:311^. 
Jessie  Wales  and  Ben  Franklin- Boston,  Sept.  20,  1867;  2:32. 
India  Rubber  Ben  and  Lady  Walton— Boston,  June  16,  1869 ;  2 :32. 
Kirkwood  and  License — Boston,  June  9,  1870;  2:32)^. 
Nabocklish  and  Medoc— Buffalo,  July  31,1868;  2:ii2^i. 
Honest  Allen  and  Myron  Perry — Boston,  June  16,  1869;  2:33. 
Dot  and  Ironsides— Philadelphia,  Nov.  1,  1870;  2:35>^. 
Lantern  and  Whalebone — 1856 ;  2 :42. 


APPENDIX.  537 

ONE    JIILE. 

With  Running  Mate. 

Ethan  Allen  and  Mate— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  June  31,  1867 ;  2 :15. 
Honest  Allen  and  Mate— Prospect  Park,  Sept.  15,  1870;  2:1734;. 
Brown  George  and  Mate— Milwaukee,  Sept.  16,  1867;  2:20. 

TWO    JULES. 

Lady  Palmer  and  Flathush  Maid— Fashion  Course,  L.  I.,  May  13,  1862 ;  5 :013^. 
Lady  Sutiblk  and  Rifle— Philadelphia,  May  31,  1842;  5:19. 


PACING    RECORD. 

ONE    MILE. 

//(  Harness. 
Billy  Boyce— Buffalo,  Aug.  1,  1868;  2:1414. 

To  Wagon. 
Pocahontas— Union  Course,  L.  L,  June  21,  1855;  2:\1%. 

TWO    MILES. 

In.  Harness. 

Hero— Union  Course,  L.  I.,  May  17,  1853;  4:56)-^. 
James  K.  Polk— Philadelphia,  Jime  30,  1850;  4:57)^. 
Roanoke— Philadelphia,  June  30,  1850 ;  4 :57i^. 

THREE    MILES. 

In  Harness. 
James  K.  Polk— Centreville,  L.  I.,  Sept.  13, 1847 ;  7 :44. 

— Appendix  of  Woodruff's  Trotting  Horse  of  America, 


MISCELLANEOUS   SUGGESTIONS 

WITH    KEFEKENCE    TO    THE    MANAGEMENT    OF    BREEDING    STOCK. 

I  do  not  propose  to  extend  these  pages  by  any  directions  as  to  the  ordinary 
management  of  horses,  as  most  horsemen  understand  and  practice  it  far 
better  than  myself.  Some  few  matters  worthy  of  observation  have  been 
gathered  in  my  own  experience,  and  may  be  embodied  in  the  following 
practical  suggestions : 

Mares  that  have  been  kept  long  on  grain  feed,  are  not  as  likely  to  get  in  foal 
as  those  which  have  run  a  short  time  on  grass. 


638  APPENDIX. 

AVhen  mares  come  in  season  early  in  sj^ring  they  often  display  an  unnatural 
and  constant  iieat.  Conception  will  not  take  place  until  this  has  passed 
away.  Bleeding  and  a  run  at  grass  restores  a  healthy  condition,  and  success 
may  be  expected  to  follow. 

It  is  not  believed  that  clover  pasture,  especially  white  clover,  is  suitable 
for  mares  during  the  jieriod  in  which  conception  is  desired  to  occur.  Many 
breeders  are  of  the  ojjinion  that  such  i)asture  causes  the  mares  to  pass  out  of 
heat  and  not  to  return,  and  the  breeder  is  led  to  suppose  they  are  in  foal 
until  the  lapse  of  time  discloses  the  fact  of  his  disapjioiutment.  However 
valuable  clover  may  be  for  young  stock,  and  especially  in  the  fall,  I  should 
not  allow  mares  in  the  breeding  season  to  pasture  on  such  grass. 

Mares  once  in  foal  are  liable  at  the  third  or  fourth  month  to  lose  their  foals, 
and  this  danger  is  greatly  increased  by  scarcity  of  water  or  improjjer  food, 
and  especially  by  the  tiring  of  guns  by  hunters  in  the  vicinity  of  their  pastures. 
This  latter  cause  of  danger  may  extend  to  other  periods.  Many  otherwise 
quiet  horses  are  very  excitable  when  they  hear  the  near  report  of  a  gun,  and 
many  foals  are  thereby  lost. 

There  is  also  a  liability  to  the  same  danger  at  a  later  period — say  at  eight  or 
nine  months,  but  this  comes  from  improper  feed,  and  care  must  be  used  at 
this  period  that  no  rye  is  fed  to  the  mares.  Hemp  seed  has  been  found  to  be 
a  valuable  preventive  of  abortions,  when  taken  at  about  the  time  of  impend- 
ing danger,  and  before  the  case  has  gone  too  far. 

I  have  had  several  mares  giving  strong  indications  of  such  a  mishap,  which 
were  carried  through  successfully  by  the  use  of  one  to  two  tablespoonfuls  of 
hemp  seed  once  each  day;  or  oftener  if  the  animal  displays  indications  of 
restlessness  or  disquietude.  Mares  at  such  times  are  very  nervous,  and  it  is 
best  to  keep  them  entirely  separate  from  other  animals,  and  give  food  and 
other  care  that  will  engage  their  attention,  and  take  the  mind  away  from  the 
impending  danger. 

Twin  colts  are  apt  to  be  slipped  or  aborted  at  about  the  period  of  eight 
months,  and  if  they  are  not  then  lost,  they  are  apt  to  die,  and  the  mare  rarely 
survives.    Twin  colts  are  not  often  seen  alive. 

I  have  had  several  slipped  prematurely,  and  the  mares  came  out  all  right.  I 
had  one  pair  carried  imtil  a  period  of  ten  to  eleven  months,  and  I  lost  the 
mare. 

A  mare  sometimes  shows  slight  signs  of  heat  when  in  foal  and  three  or 
four  months  advanced.  Should  she  be  oflfered  the  horse  at  such  time,  she 
may  receive  him,  but  generally  she  does  so  with  some  evidences  of  unwilling- 
ness. The  result  is,  that  the  abortion  of  her  foal  follows  within  aboutaw'eek; 
hence  great  care  should  be  exercised  in  permitting  such  a  service,  after  a  mare 
has  been  supposed  to  be  in  foal. 

The  time  of  year  at  which  foals  should  come  has  some  importance.  If 
they  come  in  winter  or  very  early  spring,  great  care  must  be  exercised  to  have 
the  mare  on  such  feed  as  w^ill  promote  a  ready  flow  of  milk.  There  is  nothing 
equal  to  grass — but  it  is  cjuite  hazardous  to  have  colts  foaled  in  hot  weather. 
I  want  to  avoid  the  hot  days  of  June,  July  and  August,  and  the  last  two  in 
particular.    A  colt  foaled  in  the  heat  of  the  sun,  is  killed  by  it  sooner  than  if 


APPENDIX.  539 

lie  comes  in  a  rain  and  sleet  storm.  In  the  latter,  if  he  can  once  get  on  his 
feet,  and  get  some  warm  milk  from  liis  mother,  he  will  defy  the  elements,  but 
a  colt,  less  than  a  week  old,  should  never  Ije  allowed  to  lie  down  in  the  lieal 
of  the  sun  of  midsummer. 

Moreover,  a  mare  foaling  in  warm  weather  is  lial)le  to  inflammation,  or 
fever,  and  such  attacks  are  very  fatal.  Having  suffered  severe  losses  from  this 
cause,  I  call  especial  attention  to  the  danger. 

I  notice  in  a  recent  journal  a  writer  recommends  the  use  of  injections  of 
carbolic  acid — quite  strong — into  the  uterus,  in  the  case  of  any  kind  of  ani- 
mal, and  gives  account  of  great  success  with  sheep.  I  recently  advised  the 
use  of  the  same  remedy  in  case  of  an  Alderney  cow,  and  her  recovery  fol- 
lowed.    I  should  regard  its  use  very  favorably. 

The  tinctures  of  aconite  and  belladonna  are  valuable  remedies  in  all  cases 
of  fever  in  animals,  and  in  cases  of  colic,  or  inflammation  of  the  bowels, 
doses  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  drops,  given  in  a  tablespoonful  of  water,  nuiy  be 
administered.  Since  resorting  to  this  line  of  treatment  I  lose  no  horses  from 
colic. 

For  curbs,  spavins,  ringbones  and  splints,  the  best  remedy  ready  at  hand  is 
the  penetrative  blister,  of  ointment  of  Bin.  Iodide  of  Mercury.  This  should 
be  kept  on  hand  for  such  purposes  at  all  times.  These  suggestions,  however, 
are  for  the  every-day  practical  management  of  horses,  rather  than  as  veteri- 
nary prescriptions  for  cases  of  illness. 

The  most  healthful  and  suitable  i)liice  for  a  horse — stallion  or  any  other — is 
a  box  or  stable  opening  iuto  a  small  enclosure,  no  matter  how  small,  into 
which  he  can  be.  turned  daily,  if  the  weather  is  not  stormy ;  and  with  plenty 
of  open  doors  or  windows,  not  exposed  to  winds,  liut  where  he  can  have  an 
abundance  of  fresh  air,  and  do  about  as  he  wishes  to  do.  Freedom  is  enjoy- 
able to  man  or  beast. 

Those  stallions  have  been  the  most  successful  reproducei's  which  have  been 
kept  at  hard  work,  of  their  kind,  for  the  greater  part  of  their  lives. 

Mares  kept  and  raised  in  idleness  have  not  generally  been  the  dams  of  great 
horses,  either  as  performers  or  as  reproducers. 


THE    BROOD    iMAEE. 

The  brood  mare  should  be  selected  from  a  breed  distinguished  for  the  par- 
ticular service  required  of  her  colts,  or  from  the  fact  that  she  has  bred 
distinguished  colts.  Dams  that  have  bred  superior  colts,  all  other  things 
being  equal,  will  breed  them  again.  We  can  then  judge  of  the  future  by  the 
past.  We  can  determine  from  ol)servation  and  experience  whether  the  repro- 
duction of  the  same  kind  will  meet  the  public  wants.  If  the  market  requires 
fleet  colts,  the  dam  must  be  faultless  in  action  to  meet  the  emergenc3^  If 
strength  to  carry  weights  is  demanded,  she  must  have  substance  well  placed. 
The  best  mares  are  the  cheapest,  because  they  will  stamp  their  own  good 
qualities  upon  several  generations  of  their  descendants.  Mares  that  have 
thrown  such  wonderful  prodigies  as  Goldsmith  Maid  and  Lucy  would  be 
cheap  at  any  price,  because  in  the  hands  of  skillful  breeders,  raised  to  the 


540  APPENDIX. 

highest  possible  state  of  licaltli  and  vigor,  they  would  breed  others  of  equal 
merit. 

^Ve  have  miincrous  and  weighty  examph'S  to  show  that  dauis  of  aristocratic 
lineage,  with  a  robust  constitution  and  superior  action,  stinted  to  a  stallion  of 
equal  merit,  have  bred  trotters  and  runners  of  the  highest  pretensions,  one 
after  anotlicr,  for  years  in  succession. 

The  celebrated  English  mare  Penelope  had  several  foals  to  Waxy  in  succes- 
sion ;  all  attained  to  great  celebrity  on  the  turf,  and  became  far  more  distin- 
guished in  the  stud  as  successful  progenitors  than  any  of  her  produce  by  other 
stallions.  The  records  of  the  turf  and  the  stud  bear  witness  to  the  superior 
get  of  Waxy  with  this  famous  mare.  The  blood  of  Penelope  may  be  recog- 
nized among  her  collateral  descendants  in  Touchstone,  Alarm,  Defence, 
Cotherstone,  Orlando,  Hero,  and  the  Flying  Dutchman. 

Madame  Temple  bred  two  worthy  scions  from  the  only  stallions  that  ever 
served  her  with  any  pretensions  to  trotting.  She  bred  Flora,  the  former  queen 
of  the  turf,  and  Pilot  Temple,  the  present  heir  apparent  to  the  trotting  throne. 

The  dam  of  Doble,  the  fastest  two-year-old  on  record,  bred  Mambrino,  and 
others  of  good  repute.  She  never  failed  with  a  trotting  sire  of  great  speed  to 
reproduce  his  equal. 

The  reason  why  some  men  have  succeeded  while  others  have  failed  with  the 
same  breed,  is  obvious,  and  is  the  result  of  several  causes.  Among  the  most 
prominent  causes  of  success  are  the  appropriate  imion  of  sire  and  dam ;  suit- 
able condition  of  parents  in  the  stud,  and  particular  attention  to  the  food, 
exercise  and  comfort  of  their  otispring.  By  condition  we  mean  the  high 
state  of  bodily  health  and  nervous  activity  at  the  time  of  breeding.  It  is  the 
active  state  of  the  vital  and  physical  powers  that  transmit  in  full  force  to  the 
issue.  Why  is  one  colt  better  than  another  from  the  same  dam  ?  The  reason 
is  obvious— from  robust  health;  she  was  in  better  condition  at  the  time  of 
conception. 

Mares  breed  their  best  foals  in  the  prime  of  life,  before  age  has  exhausted 
their  energies  or  hard  work  enfeebled  their  health.  Dexter  was  the  first  foal; 
Flora  Temple  was  the  first  foal  of  her  dam  at  five  years  old.  The  unequivocal 
soundness  of  wind  and  limb,  body  and  bone,  are  inestimable  qualities  in  the 
broodmare  that  will  go  down  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  her  de- 
scendants. Such  mares,  in  suitable  condition,  would  soon  regenerate  our 
present  weak,  diseased,  limping  apologies  for  horses.  Stallions  and  mares 
may  perpetuate  their  defects  and  do  incalculable  mischief.  Diseases  are 
hereditary,  and  lial)le  to  be  entailed  by  the  sire  and  sown  broadcast  over 
the  land. 

Mares  will  breed  on  to  the  common  age  of  eighteen ;  some  breed  on  to  the 
age  of  thirty.  Madame  Temple  bred  until  she  was  over  tliirty  years  of  age. 
Her  daughter  Flora  l)red  her  last  colt  to  Leamington  at  twenty-six  years  old. 
There  are  long-lived  families  in  the  horse  kingdom  as  well  as  in  the  human 
family.  Stallions  last  in  the  stud  to  greater  ages  than  mares.  Diomed  was 
imported  at  twenty-two  years  old ;  he  served  in  the  harem  for  many  years  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  left  a  valuable  progeny. 

Hamblet(mian  produced  his  best  colts  at  the  following  ages:  Alexander's 


APPENDIX,  541 

Abdallah  Avas  got  by  tlie  old  horse  when  he  was  two  years  old ;  Volunteer  was 
sired  when  he  was  four  years  old;  Edward  Everett  when  he  was  five;  Dexter 
when  he  was  eight ;  Bruno  when  he  was  eleven ;  Sentinel  when  twelve ;  Jay 
Gould  when  fourteen ;  Gazelle,  Nettie,  and  Aberdeen  when  sixteen ;  and 
Startle  when  seventeen. — Turf  Jonrtial. 


STALLIONS. 

It  is  stated  in  the  sketch  of  Golddust  that  his  sire,  Vermont  Morgan,  was 
impotent  for  more  than  a  year  after  being  brought  from  Vermont  to  Illinois. 
I  had  a  stallion  with  a  similar  experience.  I  bought  him  at  St.  Catherines, 
in  Canada,  as  a  five-year-old.  The  previous  year  I  was  assured  he  produced 
ninety-seven  colts — a  statement  which  I  regarded  as  doubtful,  but  he  never 
produced  one  after  that.  He  was  entirely  impotent  for  two  years,  and  died 
before  he  was  restored.  I  have  been  informed  that  such  cases  have  de- 
creased, and  that  the  best  remedy  is  plenty  of  work  and  grass,  and  entire 
withdrawal  from  all  offers  of  stud  service. 


FEEDING. 

The  horse  is  kept  for  his  muscle,  and  his  food  must  be  such  as  to  develop 
the  frame  and  muscular  system.  The  feeder  must  have  a  clear  idea  of  the 
purpose  for  which  an  animal  is  reared,  and  a  comprehension  of  the  office 
performed  by  the  food.  The  food  should  present  the  precise  elements  in  the 
proper  proportion  required  for  the  uses  of  the  animal.  Animals  kept  for  their 
flesh  as  food  require  a  larger  proportion  of  carbonaceous  elements  than  those 
valuable  only  for  muscle.  Indian  corn  is  the  great  crop  of  the  "West,  and  is 
the  best  type  of  fattening  food,  and  has  abundant  use  in  the  production  of 
beet,  mutton  and  pork.  It  may  also  properly  form  a  part  of  the  food  of  horses, 
and  even  of  colts,  but  to  the  latter  must  be  fed  very  sparingly.  Bear  in  mind, 
it  is  chiefly  the  muscle  and  the  finest  quality  of  springy  bone  that  requires 
development  in  the 

COLT. 

Aswe  are  now  studying  the  proper  development  of  the  colt,  let  us  see  what 
Nature  provides  for  its  early  growth.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  analysis  of  the 
mare's  milk,  that  the  casein,  or  muscle-forming  element,  is  3.40  per  cent., 
butter  2.50,  milk  sugar  3.53,  ash  .53  per  cent.,  and  water  90.05  per  cent.  The 
mare's  milk  contains  a  larger  per  centage  of  water  than  cow's  milk,  but  the 
relative  proportion  of  the  food  elements  is  nearly  the  same.  There  is  9.95  per 
cent,  of  dry  matter  (food)  in  mare's  milk,  and  of  this  the  food  of  respiration 
and  fat  production  (butter  and  milk  sugar)  amount  to  6.03  per  cent.,  so  the 
casein  amounts  to  3.40  per  cent.,  or  more  than  one-third  of  the  whole.  This 
gives  a  little  more  than  one  of  nitrogenous  to  two  of  carbonaceous  elements. 
The  colt  thus  receives  food,  in  the  mother's  milk,  in  the  proportion  of  one  of 
nitrogenous  (muscle-forming)  to  1.93  of  carbonaceous  elements.  This  tells  us 
in  the  strongest  possible  language,  that  the  colt  requires  food  rich  in  muscle- 
35 


542  APPENDIX. 


forming  elements,  and  that  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  use  food  rich  in  starch,  such 
as  corn,  or  even  barley,  for  the  3'oung  colt. 

For  four  to  six  montlis  the  colt  takes  its  natural  food— the  milk  of  the  dam. 
If  this  is  in  liberal  supply,  the  colt  will  be  sufficiently  nourished  with  the 
addition  of  the  grass  it  will  get  in  pasture.  But  care  must  be  taken  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  dam  gives  sufficient  milk  to  produce  a  strong  growth. 
Scanty  nourishment  at  this  period  is  often  fatal  to  full  development  afterward. 
The  whole  system  of  the  y(ning  animal  is  jilastic  in  the  hands  of  the  skillful 
feeder.  Full  rations  of  appropriate  food  will  give  it  the  habit  of  strong  and 
rapid  growth,  which  is  easily  continued  after  M-eaning;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
deficient  nourishment  will  not  only  contract  its  present  growth,  but  also  con- 
tract its  powers  of  digestion  so  as  to  incapacitate  it  for  using  sufiicient  food 
to  give  full  growth  after  weaning. 

The  vigorous  growth  of  a  colt  while  young  is  too  important  to  be  neglected 
on  any  pretext,  such  as  that  "  whip-cord,  muscle  and  solid  bone  must  be  grown 
very  slowly  that  the  fibres  may  become  perfect,"  etc.  There  is  a  vast  amount 
of  such  humbug  afloat.  Slow  growth  presupposes  scanty  food ;  does  insuffi- 
cient nutrition  produce  the  most  perfect  development?  Taking  a  lesson  from 
tree  growth :  How  does  the  fibre  of  the  slow-growing,  large,  forest  hickory 
compare  with  that  of  the  rapid,  open  field,  second-growth  hickory— the  grain 
of  the  latter  being  twice  or  thrice  the  thickness  of  the  former?  Will  the 
expert,  who  wants  an  ax-helve  or  spokes  for  a  trotting  sulky,  choose  the  slow- 
growing  hickory  in  preference  to  the  rapid  second-growth  ? 

I  think  the  same  rule  will  hold  between  two  colts,  the  one  scantily  and  the 
other  abundantly  fed.  But  as  in  this  case  of  the  rapidly-growing  hickory,  w^e 
wish  it  seasoned  to  give  us  the  full  force  of  its  springy  fibre ;  so  likewise  the 
rapidly-growing  colt  must  have  a  time  of  seasoning  to  perfect,  by  temper- 
ate use  and  intelligent  training,  its  wonderful  power  of  muscular  endurance. 
I  believe  this  foolish  prejudice  against  good  feeding  for  colts  has  arisen  from 
the  fact  that  high  feeding  and  fattening  have  been  considered  synonymous. 
Such  food  as  would  produce  fat  ratlier  than  muscle  can  not  be  too  strongly 
condemned. 

MILK  KATION  FOR  COLT. 

If  the  dam  yields  too  little  milk  to  produce  vigorous  growth  in  the  colt,  it 
should  be  incieased  by  food  of  as  nearly  the  same  composition  as  may  be. 
This  is  nearly  always  at  hand  in  cow's  milk.  A  little  practice  will  soon  teach 
the  young  colt  to  take  cow's  milk  wMth  a  relish.  New  milk  may  be  given  at 
first,  but  soon  replaced  with  skim  milk,  which,  possessing  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  casein,  or  muscle-forming  food,  and  phosphate  of  lime,  is  exactly 
adapted  to  the  growth  of  muscle  and  bone.  This  is  also  so  cheap  that  vigor- 
ous growth  may  be  kept  up  at  very  small  cost.  For  colts  one  or  two  months 
old,  one  quart  of  milk  given  morning  and  evening  will  be  sufficient.  It  may 
be  sweetened  a  little  at  first  to  render  it  more  palatable.  Colts,  like  children, 
are  fond  of  sweets ;  but  sugar  should  only  be  added  as  a  temptation  in  teaching 
them  to  eat,  for  it  is  a  fattening  food  and  improper  to  be  given  as  a  diet.  This 
use  of  cow's  milk  in  growing  colts  is  not  a  mere  theory  with  the  writer,  he  has 


APPENDIX.  543 

tested  it  iu  many  instances  and  found  it  admirably  adapted 'to  the  purpose. 
He  raised  two  yearlings  that  were  fed  a  little  skim  milk  after  two  months  old 
till  weaned,  and  then  continued  iu  larger  quantity  after  weaning  and  through 
the  first  winter.  They  were  given  from  four  to  six  quarts  of  milk  each,  per 
day,  with  hay  and  one  quart  of  oats,  till  one  year  old.  These  colts  grew 
very  steadily,  developing  all  parts  of  the  body  evenly,  and  made  horses  one 
hundred  pounds  heavier  than  either  sire  or  dam.  They  were  much  inclined 
to  exercise  and  test  comparative  speed  at  all  periods  during  growth,  and  more 
muscular  horses,  of  their  inches,  are  seldom  seen.  I  once  purchased  some 
colts  six  months  old,  of  a  good  Ijreed,  that  had  been  kept  on  insufficient  food, 
and  not  properly  developed  for  that  age.  To  make  amends  for  this  want  of 
care  and  food,  four  quarts  of  skim  milk  were  given  to  each  colt  for  one  month 
and  then  increased  to  six  quarts,  which  ration,  with  two  quarts  of  oats  per 
day,  was  continued  for  six  months,  or  till  one  year  old.  This  produced  a 
development  which  no  grain  ration  could  have  done.  The  advantage  of  the 
milk  ration  over  a  like  amount  of  food  containing  the  same  elements  in 
another  form  is,  that  the  food  in  the  milk  is  in  solution  and  very  easily 
digested.  Stress  is  laid  upon  this  milk  feeding  for  colts,  first,  because  it  is  a 
most  appropriate  food;  secondly,  because  iu  large  portions  of  the  country 
skim  milk  can  be  had  cheap,  and  it  may  be  thus  turned  to  the  best  account, 
for  horse  flesh  is  more  valuable  than  that  of  other  animals.  If  milk  is  not 
easily  obtained,  then  the  colt  may  be  fed  a  pint  of  oats  twice  a  day,  in  addition 
to  the  milk  of  its  dam,  if  that  is  too  small  in  quantity.  Before  the  colt  is 
weaned,  it  is  well  to  teach  it  to  eat  a  little  oil-meal  Avith  its  oats.  When  deprived 
of  the  dam's  milk  this  oil-meal  will  prevent  constipation  and  furnish  a  large 
proportion  of  muscle-forming  food  as  well  as  bone  material.  About  one  pint 
of  oil-meal  per  day  will  be  sufficient.  Another  food,  which  I  have  used  veiy 
profitably  for  the  young  colt,  is  linseed  or  flaxseed.  A  half  pint  of  flax- 
seed boiled  in  four  quarts  of  water,  and  then  two  quarts  of  bran  or  oatmeal 
boiled  with  it,  makes  an  excellent  day's  ration,  given  in  two  parts — the  oil 
and  the  albuminoids  seem  to  be  in  just  the  right  proportion.  I  have  found 
this  ration  of  flaxseed  and  oatmeal  gruel  the  best  preventive  of  relaxation 
or  constipation  of  the  bowels,  both  in  the  colt  and  the  calf.  The  small 
quantity  of  oil  seems  to  be  very  soothing  to  the  alimentary  canal,  and  it  gives 
a  smooth,  glossy  coat. — Live-Stock  Journal. 


FEEDING    COLTS. 

A  colt  needs  a  very  difliferent  feed  from  the  mature  horse.  Milk  is  the  natural 
food  of  young  animals  of  the  mammalia  class.  It  contains  all  the  elements 
necessary  for  the  production  of  bone  and  muscle  so  as  to  give  both  size  and 
strength.  If  for  anj'  reason  the  mare  is  not  able  to  suckle  her  foal,  then  the  colj 
must  be  fed  four  or  five  months  with  cow's  milk.  As  this  is  richer  in  both 
caseine  and  butter  than  that  of  the  mare,  but  is  deficient  in  sugar,  it  should 
be  reduced  with  water  about  one-third,  and  a  little  sugar  or  molasses  added. 
At  the  end  of  a  month  skimmed  milk  may  be  substituted  for  the  pure  article, 
as  the  loss  of  the  cream  does  not  detract  from  its  value  as  colt  food.    Fat  is  a 


644  APPENDIX. 

positive  detriment  to  young  animals  intended  for  labor.  They  want  enough 
fat  to  keep  them  well  lubricated  and  to  furnish  them  with  animal  heat,  but 
anything  boyond  this  makes  them  loggy,  not  to  say  lazy,  and  liinders  a  strong, 
sinewy  development.  The  herders  of  most  domestic  animals  make  a  mis- 
take in  piling  on  fat  at  too  early  an  age.  It  gives  the  animal  a  round,  sleek 
look,  but  does  not  conduce  to  its  health  or  perfect  maturity. 

If  tlie  mare  is  with  foal  again,  she  should  not  be  allowed  to  suckle  her  colt 
more  than  four  months,  otherwise  her  energies  are  divided  between  the  colt 
and  foetus,  much  to  the  damage  of  the  latter.  Neither  should  a  brood  mare 
be  taxed  heavily  with  work.  Light  exercise  will  do  her  no  damage,  but  her 
main  energies  should  be  devoted  to  the  development  of  the  foal,  if  we  wish 
this  development  to  be  perfect.  Many  a  farmer  has  been  made  a  widower 
from  the  overworking  of  his  wife  while  raising  a  family  of  children.  The 
loss  of  wives  and  mares,  and  the  unsound  constitution  of  children  and  colts, 
must  not  be  attributed  to  ill  luck  in  such  cases.  It  is  the  result  of  ignorance, 
or  disregard  of  the  law  of  breeding,  which  requires  that  the  natural  energies 
should  be  directed  mainly  to  the  offspring. 

When  the  colt  is  weaned,  he  should  be  fed  with  skimmed  milk  for  a  time, 
to  which  may  be  added  a  pint  of  oat  meal.  The  latter  ration  should  be  con- 
tinued through  the  first  year  of  the  colt's  life,  and  increased  to  a  quart  grad- 
ually  as  the  colt  becomes  a  yearling.  Oats  will  develop  bone  and  muscle 
better  than  corn,  and  if  a  few  potatoes  or  carrots  are  occasionally  fed,  say 
twice  a  week,  the  development  will  be  all  the  more  perfect.  Western 
farmers  raise  all  animals,  horses  not  excepted,  on  corn,  and  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  their  corn-fed  horses  are  good  looking,  but  we  have  not  found 
them  to  possess  the  muscle  and  endurance  of  the  oat-fed  animals  of  the  East. 
The  first  year  is  a  trying  one  in  the  life  of  all  animals,  and  especially  in  that 
of  the  horse,  as,  with  all  his  energy  and  nervous  fii'e,  "  he  is  a  natural  born 
fool,"  as  a  farmer  once  expressed  it.  The  colt  is  excitable,  is  afraid  of  hi& 
own  shadow,  and  in  running  away  from  it  runs  into  danger.  "  It  is  a  wise 
child  that  knows  its  father,"  is  an  old  sajnng,  but  a  colt  does  not  seem  to 
know  its  own  mother,  and  in  its  bewilderment  runs  after  every  gelding  it 
meets.  The  better  way,  therefore,  is  to  keep  the  mare  and  her  foal  in  some 
quiet  pasture,  where  the  latter  will  not  be  liable  to  fright  and  over-exertion. 
With  free  range,  there  is  no  danger  that  he  will  not  have  the  necessary  exer- 
cise. The  very  exuberance  of  his  spirits  prompts  him  to  try  his  paces  and 
kick  up  his  heels,  and  the  wonder  is  that  in  his  reckless  races,  in  which  he 
leaps  brush  and  brook,  he  does  not  dislocate  his  joints  or  break  his  neck. 

In  the  first  winter  comes  the  struggle  for  life  with  the  colt,  and  we  have 
often  wondered  at  the  careless,  not  to  say  cruel,  manner  in  which  he  is  treated 
by  most  farmers.  The  muture,  rough-hided  and  thick-haired  horse  is  care- 
fully housed  and  blanketed,  but  the  young  and  tender  colt  is  given  the  free- 
dom of  the  yard  and  open  shed,  and  told  to  pick  up  his  living  from  the  oats 
which  his  seniors  have  rejected.  It  is  verj^  well  to  have  respect  to  age,  but 
young  animals  have  some  rights  which  farmers  should  feel  bound  to  regard. 
Among  these  rights  are  comfortable  housing,  clean  bedding  and  nutritious 
food.     We  verily  believe  that  more  colts  are  stunted  and  spoiled  during  their 


APPENDIX.  545 

first  wiuter  campaign  than  in  all  the  subsequent  years  of  their  life.  We  have 
seen  flocks  of  yearling  colts  even  in  yards  of  those  who  professed  to  be  good 
breeders, "that  were  rough-coated,  scrawny  looking  animals,  dwarfed  in  size 
and  cowed  in  spirit,  all  for  the  want  of  shelter,  food  and  cleanliness.  Com- 
paratively few  colts  come  out  in  the  spring  with  increase  of  size  or  increase 
of  value.  This  ought  not  to  be.  It  is  a  fundamental  law  in  physiology  that 
every  animal  should  be  kept  steadily  improving  from  the  time  of  birth — 
conception  even — until  time  of  maturity.  Every  interruption  to  i)rogress  is 
a  damage  to  the  constitution,  producing  some  flaw  in  wind  or  Umh.—N'ew 
York  Times. 


THE   TRAISriKG    OF    TROTTING    COLTS. 

A  Tennessee  breeder,  who  evidently  is  a  man  of  practical  experience,  writes 
to  a  local  paper,  giving  his  ideas  about  the  training  and  development  of  the 
trotting  horse.  The  writer  in  question  seems  to  be  so  practical  and  sensible 
that  I  make  room  for  the  major  part  of  his  instructions : 

1.  Your  colt  is  well  broken  to  harness  and  in  good  condition,  not  too  fat 
nor  too  poor ;  di'ive  him  to  a  skeleton  wagon,  so  as  to  have  no  weight  on  the 
back  until  you  get  him  gaitecL  In  the  wagon  you  can  see  how  he  handles 
his  feet,  whether  he  has  a  long  or  a  short  stride — if  a  long  stride  and  has 
good  knee  action,  rolls  his  feet  well  under  him,  that  is  good  enough ;  he  will 
improve.  If  he  has  a  long  stride,  but  does  not  gather  quick  enough,  put  a 
little  heavier  shoe  on  his  fixant  feet,  or  weight  boots,  from  one  to  two  pounds, 
as  occasion  may  require.  If  he  has  not  action  enough  behind,  and  does  not 
stifle  outside  of  his  body,  get  lead  rollers,  and  have  them  well  covered  with 
sheepskin,  so  they  will  not  rub  his  legs.  The  rollers  should  weigh  one  pound 
each,  and  be  buckled  on  above  the  pastern  joint  of  the  hind  leg.  Then  your 
colt  will  have  plenty  of  action.  After  you  have  driven  a  few  times  slowly 
with  these  on,  you  can  let  him  move  a  little  way  at  a  time,  not  over  a  hundred 
yards.  If  j-our  colt  is  feeling  finely,  give  him  work  enough  to  keep  him 
steady.  Never  drive  your  colts  with  a  full  belly,  and  always  give  a  few 
swallows  of  water  before  and  after  driving,  and  sponge  out  his  head  and 
nostrils.  If  he  is  warm,  scrape  him  off  well ;  then  straighten  his  hair  down 
well  with  a  rubbing  cloth ;  then  put  a  light  blanket  on  him,  tie  it  up  well 
around  his  breast  so  that  the  wind  can  not  blow  on  him,  and  walk  him  for 
thirty -five  minutes  when  there  is  no  wind ;  then  take  him  in  and  rub  dry  and 
curry  him  off  and  give  him  a  little  more  water — by  doing  this  you  will  never 
have  a  stitt"  horse.  Some  persons  after  a  hard  drive  take  the  horse  into  the 
stable  and  go  to  rubbing  him  dry.  Now,  your  horse  stands  there  for  an  hour 
while  they  are  rubbing  him ;  then  they  rub  him  ott"  with  a  brush — and  he  is 
done  till  the  next  day,  and  when  you  put  the  harness  on  to  drive  him  he 
comes  out  of  the  stable  stift'  and  sore  all  o\'er — he  would  do  anything  rather 
than  go  ofl"  cheerfully,  with  head  and  tail  up;  he  would  be  more  likely  to 
"shake  hands"  with  you  with  his  hind  feet.  In  dry  and  hot  weather 
keep  your  horse's  feet  well  stufted  with  cow  manure,  or  flaxseed  meal  mixed 
with  water.;  not  too  soft  or  it  will  not  stay  in.    Tiiis  course  will  keep  fever  out 


546  APPENDIX. 

of  his  feet  and  prevent  them  from  cracking,  and  they  will  grow  and  seldom 
contract. 

Now  your  colt  has  been  driven  four  weeks,  very  little  fast  work.     He  is 
well  seasoned  in  wind,  body  and  legs.     Now  drive  him  regularly  ever)'  day,, 
and  when  you  first  go  out  with  him  drive  him  slowly  for  two  miles,  then 
increase  his  speed  a  little  for  three  miles,  yet  not  to  liis  best — go  about  half 
speed.     Next  day  drive  him  three  miles  slowly,  the  third  mile  let  him  move 
along  a  little  faster,  then  turn  round  the  right  way  of  the  track,  and  when 
you  come  to  a  straight  and  level  place  in  the  track  let  him  move  up  strong 
for  two  hundred  yards,  then  hold  him  up  and  let  him  go  slow  till  you  come 
to  the  same  place  again,  then  let  him  go  again;  don't  force  him  to  a  break, 
but  keep  well  in  hand  and  square;  now  jog  him  a  mile  and  take  him  off  the 
track.     If  he  is  a  high-strung  fellow  and  inclined  to  be  refractory  give  him 
more  work.     All  colts  are  not  alike;  some  require  more  work  than  others. 
By  training  them  this  way  you  will  soon  get  them  so  they  will  like  to  trot 
and  to  know  what  you  want  of  them,  and  every  time  they  come  to  that  place 
they  will  want  to  trot,  and  like  it.     Work  your  colts  this  way  for  two  weeksy 
not  speeding  oftener  than  every  other  day.     Now  that  your  colt  has  been  six 
weeks  in  training,  and  he  knows  what  is  wanted  of  him,  you  can  speed  him 
a  little  further,  three  hundred  yards,  and  force  him  a  little  faster;  tap  him 
lightly  with  the  whip  and  keep  him  level.     If  he  is  inclined  to  mix,  take  him 
up  a  little  and  shift  the  bit  in  his  moutli  and  speak  a  little  rough  to  him,  and 
touch  him  with  the  whip,  he  will  square  himself  out  and  trot  faster.     Never 
let  him  go  into  a  break.     When  your  colt  has  been  in  training  two  months 
you  can  increase  his  work  in  distance  and  speed  him  further,  but  not  over  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  at  a  time.     As  seen  as  he  trots  a  quarter  well  and  squarely, 
and  finishes  well,  'let  him  up'  for  a  week,  that  is,  drive  him  slow  and  let  him 
Iiave  some  grass  for  ten  minutes  every  day;  it  will  not  hurt  him.     He  is  now 
rested  for  a  week ;  he  is  feeling  fine  and  full  of  trot — you  can  increase  his  work, 
drive  him  seven  miles  every  day,  and  speed  him  half  a  mile  three  times  a 
week.    When  you  have  got  your  colt  where  he  will  trot  a  mile  handy  without 
a  break,  he  is  doing  better  than  the  average,  and  if  you  have  been  driving 
him  up  to  this  time  without  a  break,  now  is  the  time  to  learn  him  to  break 
and  catch  in  a  trot  quickly." — The  Turf,  Field  and  Farm, 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Abdallah... 156 

Abdallah  and  his  descendants-.-  157 

Abdallah  and  Bellfounder. 171 

Abdallah  Chief - -  83(3 

Abdallah's  Daughters 839 

Abdallah,  Goldsmith's Ifil 

Abdallah,  Lakeland 311 

Abdallah  Pilot- 267 

Abdallah's  Sous 835 

Abdallah,  Taggart's 5 

Abd-el-Kader 387 

Aberdeen 251 

Addison  Horse - - .  510 

Administrator  ..- .-- -  212 

"  in  Kentucky 219 

"  as  a  trotter- -.218— 222 

"  sons  of 224 

Acquired  qualities  inheritable. ..     10 

Alcalde 465 

Alexander's  Abdallah  and  descen- 
dants   262 

Alhambra  . .  -  - 226—281 

Allie  West 287,474 

Almont 279 

Almont's  Sons 290 

Amazonia - 162 

Ambrose  Stevens -- _  422 

American  Star  daughters 256 

"  "      sons 256 

"  "      records 256 

"  "      Seely's 257 

Andrew  Jackson 368 

Antiquity  of  Pacers 100 

Argonaut 148,492 

Ashland  Stallion 4(j(; 

Auburn  Horse ._  348 


PAGE 

Baby  Trotters 453 

Bacchante 65,  450 

Banner  Chief 464 

Barn  ard  Morgan . .  - 525 

Bashaw  and  Clay  record 884 

Bashaws  and  Clays 867 

Bashaw,  G  reene's 370 

Bay  Chief 463 

Belle  Brandon-- 402 

Bellfounder  and  Abdallah 171 

Bellfounder  blood  in  Clays 138 

"  branches  of 138 

,      "  English  card 127 

imported 123 

"  long  leverage- 184 

Belmont 268 

Black  Coach  horses... 113 

Black's  Hambletonian 802 

Blackhawk,  Long  Island 369 

Blackhawk,  Vermont -  508 

Blackstonc 301 

Black  Warrior 853 

Blackwood 469 

"  as  a  sire  -- 483 

and  Swigert 476 

"  sons  of 484 

Blandina 470 

Blood  forces,  a  contest  of-. 33 

Blucher 195 

Blue  Bulls  .--..- 97 

Bonner,  Robert,  of  New  York-.  .  240 

Boott,  James 124 

Bourbon  Chief 466 

Boutwell— charge  of  Bellfounder  126 

Breathing  Room 62 

Breeding  Problem 9 

(547) 


548 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Brigjind 464 

Brown-Scquard's  experiments 15 

Bulrusli 507 

Byron  858 

Cadmus  family 95 

"        pedigree  of 387 

Caliban 458 

Catton 87 

Case,  J.  I 40() 

Champions 348 

Champion,  Goodings' ...  847 

Grinnell's 848 

"  King's  .._. 84<) 

Championship,  1877 274 

"  won  by  Thorndale  274 

Changes  wrought  b_v  climate 22 

"  "         "   selectiim.-.     21 

"  "         "   usage     and 

treatment 22 

Charles  Kent  Mare 166 

Chronic  diseases  inheritable 18 

Clark  Chief 459 

Clay,  American 378 

"      C.  M...- 874 

"      Hambletonians 291 

"      Harry 871 

"      Neave's... 875 

"      Neely's  Harry 378 

"      Strader's 877 

Cock  of  the  Rock 400,  526 

Col umbus  family .     95 

Conformation 60 

Copper-bottoms 96 

Corbeaus 9(i 

Cross-breeding,  errors  of 408 

"  in  general  _ 36 

Cross  in  blood  invigorates 40,  112 

Cuyler 820 

sons  of 326 

Dam  of  Hiiml)l(ionian 1(»6 

"       Mambrino  Chief. . .  417—435 

Danifel  Boone,  son  of  Pilot 490 

Daniel  Lambert... 517 

Darle}'  Arabian 107 


PAOE 

Daughters  of  Abdallah 339 

Mambrino  Chief..  446 

Delmonico 334 

Dexter 249 

Developed  road  mares 52 

Developed   trotters   for  breeding 

mares 51 

Development 49 

Dictator 252 

Diomed  not  trotting  blood 84 

Don  Carlos 486 

Douglas,  Stephen  A 317 

Dove 163,  164 

Duke  of  Brunswick 331 

Duroc. 139 

Duroc  blood,  good  breeding  qual- 
ities  147 

Duroc  blood,  infirm  traits  of.  .145,  235 

"      traits 430 

"      conformation 141,471 

'•      lines  of  blood 141 

Duroc-Messenger  blood 217 

gait 473 

trotting  blood.  144 

Duroc-Messengers,  list  of 528 

Duroc  qualities  in  male   and   in 

female 34 

Duroc  thigh 427 

Eastman's  Morgan 521 

Edward  Everett 240 

Electioneer 307 

Enchantress 311 

Engineer 108 

English  Trotters 131 

Erie  Abdallah 336 

Ericsscm 459 

Ethan  Allen 514 

Euripides 338 

Even  conformation,  trotters  of.  .63 — 67 

Evolufiim 10 

Ewalt's  Abdallah 2G7 

Family  characteristics  inheritable    21 
Familj'  record,  Almont 287 

Bashaws  and  Clays  384 


INDEX. 


549 


PAGE 

Family  record,  Chaminons 350 

"    -        Cuyler 325 

Ethan  Allen 516 

"  Hambletonian 179 

Happy  Medium  . .  328 
"  Harris'  Hamblet'n  324 

Knox 513 

"  Lambert 518 

"  MambrinoPatchen  454 

Pilot  Jr... 491 

"  Royal  Georges 361 

"  Star  cross 255 

Star  family 256 

"  Volunteer 190 

riatbush  Abdallah 341 

Florida 199 

Florida's  Sons 210 

Flying  Guilders 107 

Flying  Cloud 513 

Front  leg  measure 64 

Gait,  Abdallah 299 

"      Clay 299 

"      of  Duroc  cross 142 

"      of  various  horses 411 

"      wide 144 

General  Knox 510 

General  Washington 513 

George  Wilkes 293 

Gimcrack..l40,  352,  363,  432,  433,527 

Godolphin  Arabian 107 

Golddust 523 

Goldsmith  Maid 264 

Gooding's  Champion 350 

Gould,  Levi  S .124,  520 

Gov.  Sprague 399 

sold  toMr.  Case...  406 

Grafton. 89 

Orey  Eagle 88 

Grey  Messenger 163 

Oreen  Mountain  Maid 309 

Hale's  Green  Mountain  Morgan . .  521 
Hambletonian  compared  to  Vol- 
unteer  27 

Hambletonian 151 


PAGE 

Hambletonian,  Black's 302 

Harris'.. 321,   480,  511 
"  number  of  foals..  178 

outline  of. 153 

"  Prince 305 

"  speed  of 174 

Whipple's 334 

Woods' 266 

Hannis 458 

Harry  Clay— Bellfounder  blood.  138 

mares  381 

Happy  Medium 327 

sons  of 330 

Hemingway  Horse 513 

Henry,  race  against  Eclipse 258 

the  trotter ...522 

Henry  Clay 371 

Heredity 10 

Herr,  Dr.  L 439 

Hiatogas -.     98 

Hor.se  Latin 100,102 

Hooton 87 

Huntress  vs.  Dutchman's  time 189 

Idol,  son  of  Hambletonian 307 

"     by  Mambrino  Chief. 466 

In-breeding,  good  traits  fixed  by.     42 

ill  effects  of 46 

"  in  general 41 

Increase  in  trotting  time 24 

Inheritable  qualities. 18 

Instinct 54 

Instinct  acquired 59 

Irvington 253 

Jaques,  Col... 125 

Jay  Gould 250 

Jefferson,  Thomas 356 

Jersey  Highlander 478 

Jessie  Pepper 446 

Jim  Irving 87 

Joe  Hooker 465 

John  Nelson 87 

Jupiter  Abdallah 339,  340 

Justin  Morgan 449,  500 

sons  of 506 


550 


INDEX. 


I'AGT, 

Katy  Darling 202 

Kent  Mare 29(; 

Knickerbocker 896 

Lady  Ali)ort 136 

Lady  Eleanor 446 

Lady  Stout 454 

Lady  Thorn 438—444 

Lakeland  Abdallah 31 1 

sons  of 316 

Lambert  Edward 13 

Lambert  Daniel 517 

Lawrence  on  Sampson 110 

Lady  Patriot 193 

Leland 253 

Leverage,  importance  of. 71 

of  Lady  Thorn 444 

long 474 

short  or  long 69,  70 

"         true  proportion..  ...  71,72 

Lincolnshire  Horse 113 

Lindsey's  Arabian 503 

Logan - 332 

Long  thigh 141 

origin  of 140,470 

Lysander 318 

Magna  Charta 521 

Maitlaud 302 

Major  Edsall 266 

Mambrino.  109,  110,  158 

Chief..  416 

"    dam  of 417,  435 

Eclipse 466 

Gift 457 

Patchen 451 

"         Paymaster 417 

Pilot ' 456 

Star 463 

Templar 464 

Mambrunello 465 

Margaret  the  profligate 16 

Masterlode 254 

McDonald's  Mambrino. 459,  461 

Measure  as  a  test  of  pedigree 75 

Measurement,  scope  and  value  of.     73 


PAGB 

Medley 432 

Melbourne  Young. 86 

Mental  traits 57 

Messenger 106 

"          breeder  of,  John  Pratt  115 

"          conformation 131 

"          description  of 116 

Duroc..--226,327,422,  424 

Messengers,  early 475 

Messenger,  his  history. 118 

"            lines  in  our  trotters..  120' 

"            trotters  of  early  fame  119' 

Metacomet 519 

Middletown 332 

Miller,  Guy... 334 

Morgans 499 

Morgan  Eagle 521 

Morrills 519' 

Morrill,  Young 519- 

Morse  Horse 479 

Mountain  Boy 240 

Mrs.  Caudle 459,  463 

Narragansetts 103 

National  Cup,  race  for.. 407 

Nelson,  John 87 

Nicking 29' 

Night  Hawk 346 

Norfolk  Phenomenon 130 

Norfolk  Trotters .129,  130 

Norman 478 

North  Star  Mambrino 463 

Ogden's  Messenger .  352,  433 

Ole  Bull,  son  of  Pilot 490 

Origin  of  the  Pacers 93 

Outline  of  Hambletonian 153 

Pacers,  antiquity  of 100' 

"        fast  trotters 97 

"        origin  of 93 

Pacing  Abdallah 266 

Pacing  Element 92 

"        gait  akin  to  trotting 93 

"        mares  breed  trotters 94 

Panic 360 

Patchen,  Geo.  M 375 

Pathfinder 513: 


INDEX. 


551 


PAGE 

Patriot - - 195 

Peacemaker B02 

Performer  may  not   be  a  repro- 
ducer      26 

Philosoph}^  of  Trotting 53 

Phil  Slieridau 96 

Pilot -96,  489 

"      blood 497 

"      and  his  descendants 487 

"      and  his  daughters 491 

Pilot  Jr 490 

"      as  a  sire 491 

Planet 89 

Pocahontas 388 

Pool  Sellers  and  Thorne 277 

Portion 448 

Polydore  Virgil 101 

Portion,  Young 448 

Princess 327 

Progress  in  horse  breeding 24 

Proportions  of  limbs 62 

Qualities  of  a  breeder 26 

"        of  a  trotter 26 

Racing  blood 87 

Retrogression  toward  pure  blood    35 

Revenge 507 

Rhode  Island 400 

Romulus 254 

Royal  George 353 

Royal  Georges 351 

Royal  George  as  a  sire 365 

Field's. 358 

Howe's 358 

St.  Elmo 265 

St.  Lawrence 49,  447 

St.  Lawrence  blood  as  an  outcross    49 

Sayer's  Harry  Clay 380 

Sampson 107,  111 

"        blood,  strains  of 89 

Saratoga. 164 

Seeds  of  decay  in  all  life 42 

Selection  in  breeding 24 

Seneca  Chief 333 


PAGB 

Sex,  difference  in,  as  to  certain 

traits - 30 

Short  pedigrees — great  horses —     38 

Short  Thighs 70 

Silvertail 154 

Sir  Archy ,  by  Gabriel  (?)... 68 

Sherman  Blackhawk 510 

Smuggler --  387 

at  Cleveland 391 

described 392 

Socrates -  253 

Sonsof  Almont 290 

Star  cross. -  -  245 

Star  gait 247,  364 

Star  Hambletonian 245 

Star  Hambletonians,  list  of 254 

Star  Hambletonian  record 255 

Star  mares  .  256 

Star  measure 247 

Startle 250 

Stephen  A.  Douglas 317 

Strader's  Clay 378 

Sherman 507 

Swigert 469 

"        as  a  sire 484 

"        sons  of 485 

Taggart's  Abdallah 522 

Tattler 492 

Temperament 37 

Templar 464 

The  Morgans 499 

Thigh  leverage,  long 141 

"    ■  "         short 141,  142 

Thighs,  long 69 

Thorndale-  - 268—274 

Thorndale's  sons 278 

Thorne,  Edwin 269 

Thoroughbred  crosses 38 

Thoroughbred  mares  and  Pilot  Jr.  496 

Tippoo 351 

Tom  Crowder,  son  of  Pilot 490 

Tom  Moore 339 

Toronto  Chief. 356 

Transmission  of  traits,  good  or  bad   32 
Trojan 339 


552 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Trotters  from  racing  bloocl 89 

♦'        in  England 131 

Trotting  blood  royal - .  144 

Trotting  qualities  of  Clays  sur- 
viving    - 2G0 

Trotting  qualities  of  Stars  disap- 
pearing  260 

True  Briton 500 

Trustee 85 

"       family  and  blood 85 

Tyrone 99 

Valuable  traits  fixed  by  in-breed- 
ing      43 

Vermont  Blackhavpk 508 

Hero 510 

"        Morgan  or  Wiley  Colt  .  525 

Violent  crosses  to  be  avoided 39 

Voltaire 493 

Volunteer 181 

■  sons  of 197 


PAGE 

Walkill  Chief 254 

AViley  Colt  or  Vermont  Morgan.  535 

Wilkins'  Micav^rber 353 

Willie  Schepper 333 

Wintlirop  Messenger 331 

"  chronic  scratches    18 

Winthrop  Morrill 519 

Withers,  Gen.  W.  T 286 

Witherell  Messenger 331 

Woodburn  Pilot 492 

Woodburn,  war  at 263 

Woodbury 507 

Woodford  Mambrino 467 

Wood's  Hambletonian 266 

Yearling  Trotters,  by  Adminis- 
trator. 321 

Young  Bashaw 367 

Young  Melbourne 86 

Young  Morrill 519 

Young  Patriot 195 


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